That heavy sigh of relief we all heard on Saturday night came from Matthew Knight Arena when Oregon center N’Faly Dante checked into the game against California.
It was his first action since Game 1 way back in November where Dante dominated Georgia with 16 points and 21 rebounds. With the two-month layoff, Dante wasn’t at 100 percent, but he was on the floor and contributing and that’s the most important thing.
While getting back on the floor was important, the most critical piece of information was going to be regarding how he felt after playing, and how his body responded to the new workload.
“Fortunately he recovered well. He didn’t have any pain and swelling, so he responded really well,” said Oregon head coach Dana Altman. “I think we played him 16 or 17 minutes the other night and tried to keep it like three-minute segments. When we go to Colorado, I’m not anticipating a lot more minutes but he did practice more, which leads me to believe he’s starting to feel better.”
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In his return, the big 7-footer played 17 minutes, scored eight points, grabbed two rebounds, and had a block. Those aren’t the numbers we’re used to coming out of Dante, but that should improve as his practice time increases.
“I’ve let him gauge his own practice minutes and again, Clay (Jamieson) our trainer, we’ve worked together to try to minimize his workload but he’ll get the work that he needs,” Altman said. “I think he’ll be ready to play a few more minutes, but I don’t anticipate it being many more than 16 or 17. I think that will be a gradual increase as we go along.”
Oregon goes to Colorado on Thursday before they go to Utah on Sunday for a big Pac-12 road trip this weekend.
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