EUGENE — Likely with just eight scholarship players available for the remainder of the season, Oregon’s in-game personnel management is another challenge Dana Altman and his staff are navigating.

Altman has been steadfast that he does not want to have to rely on N’Faly Dante, Jermaine Couisnard and Jackson Shelstad to play 35 minutes per game, especially not Dante. Oregon needs its top three players to produce, but is 4-7 when Dante plays over 30 minutes over his career, including 1-3 this season.

“It’s going to be game to game,” Altman said. “Score (and) time will matter. What we did with Dante, Jackson and watching the film Jermaine really got tired. I mean he had some really bad possessions there (against Oregon State), fouling with 1:34 he lost his mind.”

Substitutions Oregon (17-8, 9-5 Pac-12) makes around the eight media timeouts could be very significant over its last six games of the regular season, beginning Thursday (8 p.m., ESPN2) at Stanford.

To keep Dante, Couisnard and Shelstad on the court together for as much as possible, especially during the final eight minutes, Altman and his staff have to get them each rest around television timeouts. Oregon called on walk-ons Gabe Reichle and James Cooper each for brief spurts during the first half in last week’s win in Corvallis, when finishing once again was a problem.

“(Reichle and Cooper) are always ready,” Altman said. “They’ll know everything about Stanford; they’ll be ready to go. But I do have to make sure we get those guys some breaks around TV timeouts. Dante has only played 11 games so he’s kind of working himself into shape. He’s only been back a month. I got to keep all those things into consideration.”

Getting the most out of the top of the rotation is only one aspect of the task facing the coaches. The bench has not been contributing enough offensively over the last five games. It did not matter against OSU, as neither bench scored in the game, but Brennan Rigsby, Kario Oquendo and Mahamadou Diawara need to add more if the Ducks are going to finish in the top four of the Pac-12 and give themselves the best chance to contend in the conference tournament.

“Every rotation is always a little different to try to get in a rhythm,” said Rigsby, who averaged 4.4 points and 4.2 rebounds and shot just 21.9% from the field over the last five games. “But I think everybody’s adjusting pretty well to it and we’re getting everybody’s legs back under themselves.”

This weekend’s trip to Stanford and Cal will be a different test for Oregon’s player rotation.

The Cardinal (12-13, 7-8) are the top three-point shooting team in the Pac-12 and third in the conference in scoring in league play. The Golden Bears (11-15, 7-8) are a sold rebounding team and led at halftime against the Ducks last month.