Bulldogs’ late run has little impact in 83-75 loss at Arkansas

For Fresno State, one rough half of basketball followed another Friday. Up against Arkansas, an SEC team, on the road, that was trouble.

The Bulldogs, after sizzling through two warmup games, didn’t shoot it well, turned it over far too much and at the defensive end had a tough time matching up with 6-foot-11 freshman Daniel Gafford or guards Jaylen Barford and Anton Beard in an 83-75 loss at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

“We have to communicate better and not give up easy baskets in transition and we gave up some of those, especially in the first half,” coach Rodney Terry said. “We didn’t play particularly well, I thought, in terms of sticking to the game plan from a defensive standpoint or an offensive standpoint.

“When you come into environments like this you have to come in and work the game against good teams on the road. We settled in a little bit into the second half and started to do some things we asked out guys to do and put together a few stops, but then we’d have something come back and bite us a little bit.”

In the first half, the Bulldogs went through stretches where they were 0 of 7 and 0 of 6 and had 10 turnovers that led to 14 Arkansas points. In season-opening victories over UC Santa Cruz and Cal State Northridge, they had eight and seven turnovers.

In the second half, the Bulldogs made an effort to pound the ball inside and sophomore forward Bryson Williams hit five consecutive shots – two short jumpers, a tip-in, a layup and a dunk.

But that was followed by another extended stretch where they couldn’t make a shot and turned over the basketball.

Terrell Carter II scored at the rim at the 17:22 mark and the Bulldogs’ next made basket came on a 3-pointer by Deshon Taylor at 9:37, cutting a deficit that had swelled to as many as 19 points to 14.

“Bryson was really good in the second half,” Terry said. “The first half I thought he was a little shaky at times and uncomfortable at times facing the basket. But that’s growing pains. He’s going to be better as the season goes along.

“We know what we can do in the paint, we’re still trying to develop him facing the basket a little for us and we have to have a couple of out other post guys emerge for us and give us something, not just from a scoring standpoint, but a rebounding presence, a defensive presence, and give us some positive minutes.”

Fresno State put together a late run through the final 3:48, but before hitting nine of its last 11 shots was 19 of 50 (38 percent). The Bulldogs finished with 16 turnovers.

Williams scored a career-high 22 points, hitting 11 of 15 shots before fouling out with 1:32 to go. The rest of the Bulldogs, going eight deep, were 17 of 46 (36.9 percent), including 6 of 16 on 3-pointers (37.5 percent).

Fresno State (2-1) was never out of it, but that late run didn’t raise the threat level much for the Razorbacks (3-0). The Bulldogs got within 81-75 with 6 seconds remaining on a layup by Ray Bowles Jr., who had that one basket in eight attempts.

Led by Gafford, who scored 25 points with eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals, Arkansas scored 36 points on layups and dunks and 25 at the foul line.

“They have a good team,” Terry said. “Any time you return senior guards and guards that can play the way their guards play, (Daryl) Macon, Barford and Beard, those are some good guards.

“They’ve been battle-tested and obviously those guys played at an elite level last year, they were key guys playing key minutes, and then we let the young kid come in and feel good and play great. He’s going to be a really good player, and he affected the game at both ends of the floor. You can’t let that happen.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Bulldogs’ late run has little impact in 83-75 loss at Arkansas."