Fresno State’s Mountain West opener is here – already! Here’s where Bulldogs stand
The Mountain West moved up the dates of its conference tournament to avoid a convention crush in Las Vegas, which means it had to move up the start of conference play and ready or not, here it is.
Fresno State, which opens on Wednesday night against UNLV at the Save Mart Center … not quite ready.
The Bulldogs (2-4) have only played six non-conference games with three on the road and a fourth on a neutral floor, which is a tough way for a young team to start a season. The two things coach Justin Hutson knows at this point: They are closer to whole, and they have a chance when all of the pieces are set in place.
“We’ve done some good things at times and played in great stretches at times and then we’ve done some bad things at times, which is usually what an inexperienced team does,” Hutson said.
“We need our younger guys to grow up and our older guys to lead.”
That has been difficult with seniors Noah Blackwell missing almost two weeks of practice at the start of the season with a wrist injury and New Williams close to two weeks with a back injury. Forward Chris Seeley, the Central High grad and Utah transfer, did not play in a loss at Cal State Northridge on Saturday due to an upper body injury.
The Bulldogs, one of two MW teams to play only six non-conference games to this point, also were hoping to get a waiver allowing Oregon State mid-year transfer Jordan Campbell to play before the start of the spring semester. That was denied by the NCAA. Campbell is not expected to play until January.
Hutson has played 10-deep in every game with 12 getting into two games. Freshman Jarred Hyder is playing a team-high 33.2 minutes per game and freshmen Orlando Robinson (24.0), Anthony Holland (19.5) and Niven Hart (18.7) are between 18 and 25 minutes per game.
“I would like to be able to narrow it down to nine and know we have a group of nine that we’re going to play,” Hutson said. “But usually the guys dictate that. They’re dictating that in practice. They’re dictating that in games.
“We’re figuring out what style we’ll play. We do have injuries. We’ve had Noah out the first three games. Now New (Williams) has been out for a while. We’d like to get it down to nine, but the guys have to dictate that.”
Blackwell has played in four games with three starts and while his shot is not yet there he has 20 assists and just four turnovers and is leading the conference and fourth in the nation in assist to turnover ratio. He also can lend a veteran presence the Bulldogs have lacked on the floor – the only other senior playing significant minutes is forward Nate Grimes, who is averaging 11.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while limited in two games by foul trouble.
“It has been slow, but I’m trying to find it,” Blackwell said. “It has been frustrating at times, but I feel like we’ll get there. Coach Hut knows what he’s doing. The coaches know what we need to get there. We’re talented, but we’re just not jelling right now to put it all together.
“I feel like we’ll get it done very soon. We’re close. We just have to figure out how to play halves, play together more as a team, play better on the defensive end like we’ve done in the past and just be more together. That’s what it takes to win – defense, rebounding, playing together as a team playing your roles.
“We’re going to find it,” Blackwell said. “It takes a little time. We’re six games in with a scrimmage. We’ll find a way to click. I know we will.
“This group is talented. I know that we’ll get it together. We haven’t had everybody. New has been out. I was out. We just haven’t had a full group, but that doesn’t make any excuses.”
UNLV comes in 3-6 and with one of the better guards in the conference in Amauri Hardy, who’s averaging 17.7 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
Saturday, the Bulldogs play at No. 25 Utah State.