Oregon’s men’s basketball season ended on Tuesday night with a 61–58 home loss in the NIT quarterfinal to Wisconsin. The defeat ended a disappointing season overall for the Ducks, who have become accustomed to making the NCAA tournament under coach Dana Altman.
The disappointment in the season seeped over into the lack of fan support at Tuesday night’s critical NIT matchup, where only 3,300 fans were estimated in attendance. Altman was not pleased with the turnout and let the fan base know it in his final postgame press conference of the season.
“You see the commitment that Wisconsin makes with the cheerleaders, the band,” Altman said, per Jarrid Denney. “We make a commitment, don’t get me wrong. But you can just see how important it is to them. It’s important to me. We should have more people here. Alright? I mean, the guys played hard. 3,300 people…that’s not good enough. If it’s me, then get rid of me. If you need somebody else to be a promoter, to do something. But 3,300 people is embarrassing. I’m not in a very good mood, you can tell.
“If it’s me, then make the change. Make the change. Somebody will hire me somewhere. I’ll go coach junior college ball. I love junior college ball. Those guys are dogs. They want to be in the gym all the time. I love those guys. But 3,300 people? For Wisconsin? I’m disappointed. And I appreciate the people who came. The 3,300 people who did come, great. I sure appreciate them. The people who have stuck with us. Again, I’m not a promoter. I’m not out in public. I don’t have Twitter and all that stuff. My job is to coach.”
Oregon finished the season 21–15 and 12–8 in Pac-12 play. The Ducks missed out on the tournament for the second consecutive season and for the fifth time in 13 years under Altman.
