N’Faly Dante has the knack of seemingly coming out of nowhere to block a shot.
The Oregon 7-foot center had two huge blocks in the last minute of the game to help the Ducks preserve a huge 73-68 victory over Stanford. With the win, the Ducks finish the regular season 18-13 and 12-8 in conference play.
But more importantly, the Ducks finish in fourth place in the Pac-12 and that gives Oregon a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament and will open up post-season play next Thursday down in Las Vegas.
After falling down 18-9 early, Oregon rallied and held the lead for the last 30 minutes of action, but the Cardinal wouldn’t go away. They were 9-of-21 from long range, but just 2-of-9 in the second half.
Dante led the way with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Keeshawn Barthelemy added 14 points off the bench. In his last game regular season game at Matthew Knight Arena, guard Will Richardson scored 10 points with six assists.