GEICO PLAYERS ERA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 24, 2025

Dana Altman

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Oregon Ducks

Postgame Press Conference

Auburn 84, Oregon 73

Q. What are some of the things your team did well tonight and what are some of the shortcomings?

DANA ALTMAN: Well, I really liked the way we went to the boards. We really concerned coming in, board play, and our guys made a tremendous effort on the boards. So I was very, very pleased with that.

We just made too many defensive mistakes. Our rotations really caused us some problems.

Then the turnovers. We had 18 turnovers, they only had six. We did a good job defensively in the first half. I thought second half they got to the rim way too much on us.

Good things on the boards. Really rebounded well. But the turnovers and a lot of defensive mistakes didn't allow us to have an opportunity to win the game.

Q. Coach, moving forward, besides the turnovers, what else will you emphasize to help your team have a chance to win?

DANA ALTMAN: We're going to have to execute better offensively and really cut those turnovers down. We need to cut down on our defensive mistakes. We made a lot of those. Those two areas, first and foremost.

Our energy level was pretty good. Like I said, the board play was pretty good.

Other than TK, we didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter. We're going to have a lot of work ahead of us.

Q. Your thoughts on San Diego State, a team you played in this same event last year. How are they different?

DANA ALTMAN: I really don't know. I haven't taken a look at them. I focused on Auburn. We'll start tonight. But you know they're going to be good defensively. They always guard their tail off so I know they'll be good. I know they got a few players back from last year that we're familiar with. But I haven't seen them play.

I'll get to work as soon as we get back to the hotel and we're going to have to put this one behind us real quick and move on to the next game.

Q. On the last possession or two, you were telling your team not to foul. This event has a very unique format in that there's a lot of tiebreakers, one of which is point differential. Is that something in the back of your mind? Is that why you're telling them --

DANA ALTMAN: Yeah, it was just the last possession I said not to foul and then they went down and missed a shot because they were trying to score and trying to get it more than 11. Yeah, I just didn't want to foul intentionally there and give them two more points, make them hit a shot to get two more.

Q. To that end, you said they went down and tried to score --

DANA ALTMAN: Probably not.

Q. Is that just the unique --

DANA ALTMAN: Yeah, it's the unique nature of the points. Everybody is trying to get in better position. We wanted to finish the game a little stronger. We had an opportunity to hit a few free throws, had some bad turnovers late there. We wanted to finish the game strong and put a little more pressure on them.

Q. Was Auburn as advertised after scouting them?

DANA ALTMAN: Yeah, no, their athleticism is good. Defensively they gave us a lot of problems. They were able to switch all our ball screens with their length and really give us trouble.

We did a poor job of recognizing that and getting the ball inside when they did switch. But no, their athleticism, their length gave us a lot of problems on the offensive end.