The Oregon Ducks pulled off a historic upset on Friday night, beating the No. 6 Arizona Wildcats and advancing to the championship game in the Pac-12 Tournament. After falling down 30-11 in the first half, the Ducks put together a masterful second half that led them to the 67-59 victory.
That outcome looked very much in doubt early in the game, especially after Oregon’s star N’Faly Dante went down with what looked like a brutal injury just one minute into the game. Dante went up for a block, and got undercut, coming down directly on his hip/lower back area.
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The center had to be carried off of the floor, and he was out of the game and in the locker room for a large portion of the first half while the Ducks tried to keep the game within reach.
Dante ended up returning to the game and went on to have 14 points and 10 rebounds in a comeback effort for Oregon. After the game, head coach Dana Altman gave an update on Dante’s injury status going forward.
“Dante took a terrible fall there, and they took him back for X-rays,” Altman said after the game. “Everything was negative, but he’s got a bad bruise on his tailbone. So he’ll be a little stiff in the morning. Hopefully, by 6 o’clock he will be loose.”
Oregon will need Dante as healthy as possible in order to take down whichever opponent they face — No. 2 seed Washington State is playing No. 3 seed Colorado in the second semifinal currently on Friday night.
The Ducks are 1-1 this year against Washington State, and 0-2 against Colorado.
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