Bulldogs take on Colorado State team that can shoot, but can it score?

Fresno State will try to get back to .500 in Mountain West Conference play Saturday at Colorado State, facing a team that has had some offensive issues.

The Rams are last in the conference in overall field-goal (40.3) and 3-point percentage (31.1). But are those marks and difficulty scoring (ninth-best 69.7 ppg) a product of a fairly tough schedule or could it be that they just aren’t all that good at putting the ball in the basket?

Either way, the Bulldogs (11-5, 1-2) still have to defend after struggling to do so in losses to Nevada and at Utah State sandwiched around a victory over Air Force.

Colorado State (8-8, 1-2) has failed to hit even 40 percent of its shots in seven of its games, but it also has played five teams in the Top 50 in the nation in field-goal defense, seven in the Top 100 and 10 in the Top 150.

In conference play:

▪ The Rams were 25 for 61 (41.0 percent) in a 93-71 loss at Boise State, which is second in the conference and 49th in the nation.

▪ They were 19 for 54 (35.2 percent) in a 59-52 victory at San Jose State, which is fourth in the conference and 91st in the nation.

▪ And they were 25 for 62 (40.3 percent) in a 77-68 loss to San Diego State, which is first in the league and 43rd in the nation.

Colorado State is led by guard Prentiss Nixon, who is averaging 17.3 points per game and the definition of a high-volume shooter.

Nixon has put it up 213 times, more than anyone in the conference. He has shot 96 times inside the 3-point line and 117 times from distance and his overall field-goal percentage is a poor 37.1. He is 38 of 96 (39.6) and 41 of 117 (35.0).

Among the top 40 scorers in the Mountain West, there is only one player with a lower shooting percentage.

Would you believe it’s a teammate?

Jeremiah Paige, second among the Rams in shots (158) and third in scoring (9.9), has hit 35.4 percent from the field. He is 36 of 81 (44.4) inside the arc and 20 of 77 (26.0) on 3-pointers.

That could be dismissed a statistical anomaly, for both, but last season Nixon hit 38 percent of his 400 shots and Paige 37.1 of his 272. 　

Last word …

Coach Rodney Terry on the Bulldogs’ backcourt defense after the loss at Utah State: “At the end of the day it gets down to want-to. If you want to do it, you’ll do it, if you don’t want to then you won’t. It’s an attitude, a mentality.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Bulldogs take on Colorado State team that can shoot, but can it score?."