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.
