Take three on Fresno State loss to Colorado State: Hart transplant not enough
Fresno State, coming off back-to-back victories for the first time in Mountain West play, failed to show much of anything in an 80-70 loss to Colorado State on Tuesday at the Save Mart Center.
Coach Justin Hutson pulled his starters — seniors Noah Blackwell, Nate Grimes and New Williams, and freshmen Orlando Robinson and Jarred Hyder — at the 16:50 mark with the Bulldogs down 18 points.
That left freshman Niven Hart with the ball in his hands and he took advantage of some additional minutes.
Hart helped bring the Bulldogs within six points and scored a career-high 29 points, including 26 of Fresno State’s final 38 points.
Here are three takeaways from the game …
BENCH THEM ALL
When Hutson pulled his starters, in went Hart, freshman Anthony Holland, Jordan Campbell, Aguir Agau and Mustafa Lawrence.
Lawrence missed five of the past six games. Agau had played in the past four games after coming back from injury but logged no more than five minutes in three of those contests. Campbell had seen his minutes cut back, playing only six and nine in the Bulldogs’ two-game winning streak.
“I wasn’t hoping much,” Hutson said. “Hope is not a strategy. Those guys didn’t deserve to be out on the floor, so I was going to try some other guys.”
The five starters sat until the 12:57 mark when Campbell had to come out after taking a blow to the head when turning the ball over.
Williams returned at that point. Grimes and Blackwell reentered at 9:53.
Robinson and Hyder at 6:43, though only for a short stint after sat for the final 4:46 and 4:43, respectively.
Tuesday’s outing could swat Hutson to change his lineup and alter the minutes played when Fresno State next takes the court Saturday at UNLV.
“That’s a good question,” Hutson said. “I don’t know. We’ll evaluate the tape and go back and look at it on Thursday when we come back to practice and talk to a few guys.
“But that first group has to be a little more competitive as a group. You don’t want to put it on any one individual – it’s a team game out there. But it has to be a little bit more competitive as a group.”
The Fresno State seniors – Grimes, Blackwell and Williams – had a plus/minus of minus-16, minus-16 and minus-12 against Colorado State.
HAVE A LOT MORE HART
Hart scored the most points off the Bulldogs’ bench since Kevin Olekaibe put up 29 in 32 minutes at San Jose State on Jan. 29, 2011.
Top games off the bench since 2008 …
29 – Niven Hart vs. Colorado St., Feb. 4, 2020
29 – Kevin Olekaibe at San Jose St., Jan. 29, 2011
25 – Kevin Foster at UNLV, March 9, 2013
24 – Kevin Foster vs. Nevada, Feb. 25, 2012
23 – Jarred Hyder at San Diego St., Jan. 1, 2020
“It was working so we just kept going back to it,” said Hart, whose previous career high was 16 points during the Bulldogs’ victory over IUPUI. “I wasn’t so much in the game thinking about how many points I had, how much I was scoring. I was just trying to get the score right, trying to win the game.”
Hart has been pressing for more minutes and has been much more efficient at the offensive end than earlier in the season.
In five games since returning from a concussion, he shot 50%, including 44.4% at the 3-point line while playing an average of 14.0 minutes per game.
The question is at the defensive end.
“He has been trying hard, there’s no question about that,” Hutson said. “We have some older guys that are in the first lineup that are a little bit more sound, but his effort, there’s no problem with his effort.
“I said: ‘As long as you keep bringing that effort, we’re going to give you minutes out there. And if you can take good shots, help us on the defensive end, you’ll get more minutes because we know you can be explosive on the offensive end.’
“We’re like, ‘Let’s earn it ... You’re back now. I’ve told you I’m going to play you.’”
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Hart was the best freshman on the floor Tuesday night, though the top four candidates for the Mountain West freshman of the year also were going at it.
That was Robinson and Hyder and Colorado State’s Isaiah Stevens and David Roddy.
The Bulldogs definitely did not help their cases.
Robinson wasn’t in foul trouble, but played only 15 minutes and scored six points with one rebound.
Hyder didn’t score and had six turnovers and just one assist, playing just 19 minutes.
Stevens scored 13 points with eight assists, three rebounds and two steals in 36 minutes.
Roddy had 11 points with eight rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and one steal in 31 minutes.
When Colorado State beat visiting Fresno State by 18 points two weeks ago, Roddy had scored 26 and Stevens 21.