Dana Altman Lauds Fans, Student Section for Energy in Win vs. UCLA

Nearly 9,000 fans showed out to support the Oregon Ducks Thursday night, with the student section overflowing. If there were latecomers who arrived at Matthew Knight Arena just before tipoff, they had to sit in the nosebleeds.

By the end of the night, the students had the best seat in the house — storming the splattered court at Matthew Knight Arena, surrounding the players who participated in the fun.

It's no secret that the Ducks have had a tougher year than expected, including four home losses at Matthew Knight Arena, but Head Coach Dana Altman said the fans, particularly the students, made a difference against the Bruins in a must-win game for Oregon.

"I loved the crowd tonight," Altman said. "The students were great. Sometimes those fans can pick you up, and they did tonight.

"It was great to see the energy, and I'm so thankful for the students. They were a big factor tonight. There is no doubt about it."

It was the second-largest crowd turnout for a game at Matthew Knight this season, behind the Oregon State game that saw 10,712 seats filled. While the fans made their presence felt Thursday night, Altman said that the crowd hasn't been making this kind of an impact all season and takes responsibility for that.

"I'm thankful for everybody who's shown up all year, but we've had some games this year where the energy in this building has not been good," Altman admitted. "That's part of our fault. We're not a great team. We've lost four home games, and the energy in those games is give and take. We got to do our job, and we haven't done our job. I want to make that really clear."

The atmosphere at Matthew Knight on Thursday was arguably the best it has been all season. Altman specified one moment in the game when UCLA crawled back from a double-digit deficit, and the Ducks got a big bucket from De'Vion Harmon to jazz up the crowd and spark a turning point in the game.

"We hit a bucket and the crowd got back into it," Altman said. "Our defensive pressure picked us, and the students carried us through."

Oregon fans clearly haven't given up on their team, who as of Friday is one of the "Next Four Out" in ESPN's Joe Lunardi's latest NCAA tournament projections. The Ducks will have another chance to pull off an upset as No. 16 USC comes to town Saturday for Senior Night.

"I'm hoping we have a big crowd Saturday," Altman said. "We obviously need to play well."

A win over the Trojans would make the Ducks 4-0 against USC and UCLA for the first time since 2015-16. What makes this sweep even more impressive is that Oregon would be 4-0 as an unranked team against the ranked LA schools.

Not many bubble teams would have that to brag about on their resumé. The Ducks are halfway there thanks in large part to their fans.

"I appreciate the help tonight," Altman said of the home fans. "Again, the students — really good. I don't know what the crowd size was or not, but they were energized, and that really helped us."

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