The Oregon Ducks’ senior center, N’Faly Dante, is SRA’s PAC-12 Player of the Week. He led the No. 4 seed Ducks to three wins in three days, securing the PAC-12’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and Oregon’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019. In the quarterfinal against the No. 5 seed UCLA Bruins, Dante scored 22 points, shooting 8-11 overall, and grabbed six rebounds and two steals, leading the Ducks to a 68-66 victory. During their semifinal upset over the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats, Dante achieved a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the 67-59 win.
Photo Cred: Oregon Live
Dante was efficient, shooting 5-7 overall, and excelled on defense with four blocks and three steals. Dante delivered one of his strongest performances of the season in the PAC-12 championship against the No. 3 seed Colorado Buffaloes, scoring 25 points on a perfect 12-12 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds. The Buffaloes struggled to contain Dante as he dominated the paint, providing a consistent scoring option for Oregon when other top scorers faltered.
Defensively, Dante held Colorado center Eddie Lampkin to only seven points and four rebounds while tallying three steals and an impressive block of a late KJ Simpson three-point attempt. Dante also had a standout game earlier in the season against Colorado, scoring 20 points on a flawless 10-10 shooting with 12 rebounds in a 79-75 home loss on Mar. 7. For the season, Dante is averaging 16.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game while shooting an impressive 70.5% overall, an improvement from last season’s 61.4%.
Photo Cred: Oregon Live
Dante began the season strongly with 16 points and 21 rebounds in the season-opening 82-71 win over Georgia on Nov. 6. Unfortunately, he suffered a left knee injury that required surgery. Dante returned seven weeks later against the California Golden Bears, where he scored eight points in 17 minutes. He has achieved eight double-doubles this season, scored over 20 points five times, and reached double figures in points in 18 of the 20 games he played. Dante will look to continue his momentum from the PAC-12 championship game in the Ducks’ opening NCAA tournament game against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on TNT.
