Six things to remember about Nate Bittle’s Oregon career

Nate Bittle isn’t going to be able to return to Eugene, step inside Matthew Knight Arena and see his jersey hanging from the rafters.

First: Oregon doesn’t do that. The accomplishments of the likes of Sabrina Ionescu, Dillon Brooks, Tyler Dorsey and those Final Four and Elite Eight teams don’t appear inside Oregon’s arena — something about fire code.

But also: It just didn’t go that way in the first place for Bittle, a 7-foot blue-collar giant for the Oregon men who gave everything to the program and didn’t quite get it back in return.

And that happens. Not every team gets remembered. But despite only cutting down one net in his Oregon career — at the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament — Bittle should get a warm ovation from fans who come to Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday, March 7, for the Ducks’ regular-season finale.

Carve out a little space in your memories for Bittle. I sure have. Here’s what I’ll remember about one of the best Oregon centers ever.

The hype

When Bittle signed with Oregon, he was the latest in a string of five-star athletes to commit to the Ducks. The McDonald’s All-American came to Oregon as the No. 26 player in the country, the No. 2 player in the state of Oregon and with a list of big-time suitors. He visited Gonzaga, UCLA and Arizona before ultimately landing on his home state Ducks.

“I built a great relationship with the coaching staff,” Bittle said. “They have always had a winning program. Ever since I was a little kid, it was a dream of mine to be an Oregon Duck.”

The delay

Bittle didn’t hit the ground running. With N’Faly Dante established in the paint, Bittle played sparingly during his freshman season. He averaged 7.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks as a sophomore to set up a junior year filled with expectations.

Then the injuries came.

In 2023-24 as a junior, Bittle was limited to just five games as he battled a wrist injury and illness. He was effective when he played, but there were plenty of questions about Bittle’s durability and whether he could be a centerpiece of a team as the Ducks headed into the offseason.

The rise

Those questions were answered quickly, weren’t they? In 2024-25, Bittle had one of the best seasons ever by an Oregon center. He averaged 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds while starting 35 games. He was one of three players in the country to total at least 490 points, 260 rebounds and 70 blocks. He could take over games — like he did when he scored 36 points with 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks in a win at Washington.

“Nate did an unbelievable job,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said after that one.

And he proved to be a winner: Tag-teaming with point guard Jackson Shelstad, the pair led Oregon to a 25-10 record and a first-round win over Liberty in the NCAA Tournament before succumbing to Arizona in the second round.

Bittle averaged 15 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in the only two NCAA Tournament games of his career — barring a miraculous run through next week’s Big Ten Tournament.

The bald spot

Bittle always had a sense of humor about the whole thing. 

Take last year against Ohio State, for instance: Bittle scored 21 points with eight rebounds and three blocks to lead the Ducks to a 73-71 win, all while being serenaded by Buckeyes fans chanting, “Bald spot! Bald spot! Bald spot!” every time he touched the ball.

“Bro, I’ve been getting ‘bald spot’ for two to three years now. It ain’t nothing new,” Bittle told me. “It’s nothing that I don’t know. My grandpa’s bald. My great-grandpa’s bald. My dad is bald. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I embrace it.”

His dominance of Oregon State

Bittle may never reach a Final Four with Oregon. But he does have this card in his pocket: He never lost to Oregon State.

Bittle finished his Oregon career 8-0 against the Beavers. The best of those came in November 2024, when Bittle’s then-career highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds firmly established him as a presence for the Ducks.

He celebrated that 78-75 win in Corvallis by throwing the ball up in the air as time expired and celebrating with his teammates in front of Oregon State’s student section.

“I’ve been watching this game since I was a kid,” said Bittle, a Central Point native. “And being a Duck and coming over here and keeping doing what guys have done before us and everything like that, it just feels good to get that win.”

His perspective

There was so much hope for this season. After testing the NBA waters, Bittle returned for his fifth season, along with Shelstad and Kwame Evans Jr. — the core of Oregon’s 2025 NCAA Tournament team.

There was hype. There were expectations. And there has been a whole lot of disappointment.

Coming into Saturday, the Ducks are 11-19 overall, 4-15 in Big Ten play and are only positioned to be in next week’s conference tournament thanks to a field that expanded from 15 to include all 18 teams this season.

Shelstad has missed most of the season due to injury, and so have a bevy of role players. Some offseason additions didn’t click right away as the Ducks had hoped, and the Ducks just haven’t had the depth to withstand play in one of the nation’s toughest conferences.

And it could have been over already for Bittle. He missed five games in nonconference play due to an ankle injury and was slated to miss “at least a month” with another injury to his ankle that left him using a walking boot and scooter in January.

The Ducks were mired in a losing streak that would reach 10 games. The focus could have turned to his professional future.

But that’s not what happened.

Bittle returned after three games to score 23 points in nearly upsetting Purdue. Two games later, Bittle — still far from 100% — had 22 points with seven rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks in 34 minutes against Penn State to snap Oregon’s skid.

I asked him after that one, essentially, why?

“My time in a Duck uniform is going to come to an end here after this year,” he said. “I just want to make the best of it with this team, our coaching staff and everybody that’s been with me for five years.”

How Altman will remember Nate Bittle

I’ve covered the Oregon coach since 2014, and I’ve seen the way he’s drawn to certain players. Often, they’re the ones who didn’t find success right away.

He still talks about the fire Payton Pritchard had every day to improve. He’ll talk about the selflessness of players like Jordan Bell, who moved to the bench in 2016-17 for Chris Boucher to start — then stepped up to lead Oregon to the Final Four after Boucher tore his ACL.

Boucher, as Altman reminded reporters last month, recovered from that injury and is now in his ninth season in the NBA.

“You’re supposed to learn to fight adversity,” Altman said. “That’s one of the great things about college athletics, is you learn to fight adversity.”

Then there’s Bittle.

Bittle didn’t bring Altman to the Final Four. He didn’t win conference player of the year honors, and that one Pac-12 Tournament the Ducks won with him on the roster came with Bittle out due to injury. The two weren’t always in lockstep. Bittle had to weather his injuries — and constant bruisings from practicing in the paint against Dante — to get to where he’s at today.

And while this will soon be a season that Altman will want to forget, Bittle is going to be a player he tells stories about just like the rest.

“When it’s good, everybody is good,” Altman said. “But who’s going to respond when it’s not? Because we’re all going to be there at some point in time. And basketball is just an example of that.

“Nate was All-Big Ten Defensive Team last year, comes into this season All-Big Ten team and we don’t play well. And he had an excuse. He had two bad ankles and he said, ‘Coach, I can go.’ He fought it. I’m proud of him.”

On Saturday, Altman wants the rest of the Ducks to mirror that.

“Go do it for Nate,” the coach said.