Take 3 on Fresno State loss Utah State: ‘Dogs baffled by Aggies zone defense down stretch
Fresno State was trailing Utah State and for much of the men’s basketball game, teetering; a run away on Saturday from being in it, or out of it.
They got in it. Noah Blackwell knocked down back-to-back shots from the 3-point line. Just like that, it was a 1-point game. There was still 10:35 to go. But while the Bulldogs might have been down by just one point on the scoreboard, they were well behind in rebounding, in second-chance points, in points in the paint.
And when Utah State took a quick timeout and changed up its defense after the second Blackwell three, going to a 1-3-1 zone that flummoxed the Bulldogs, that was about it.
The Aggies, winners of three games in a row and six of seven coming into the Save Mart Center on Saturday night, just had too much.
The final: Utah State 71, Fresno State 59.
Here are three takeaways from the game …
THE BEAN MACHINE
Utah State had a 17-4 advantage in second-chance points and scored three times in the first half and once in the second following offensive rebounds by Aggies forward Justin Bean.
The Aggies did not shoot the ball well early – they started 5 of 18 (27.8%). But four of their first five baskets came off offensive rebounds.
“Offensive rebounds, we have to be ready to go,” coach Justin Hutson said. “That was something that we worked on, and you’ve seen some improvement. Bean is one of the best ones, so he’s always the culprit and it really hurt us early in the game. I thought we got better as the game went on – ‘Oh, OK, now we have to rebound.’ But I was disappointed that it hurt us early in the game because Bean is a very good offensive rebounder so you have to bring that focus.”
Bean is leading the conference and 21st in the nation in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 3.59 coming in.
He is just 6-foot-7 but very good operating within the Aggies’ offense, finding creases and avoiding blockouts by opposing defenders. He had six offensive rebounds in the first game against Fresno State back in December, has a season-high of eight offensive rebounds against Texas-San Antonio and with five against the Bulldogs on Saturday has now had five or more 10 times in 28 games.
“Now, that ball moves for Utah State,” Hutson said. “That’s an experienced group. It’s not a matter of a guy just sitting right there deciding, ‘I’m not going to box out.’ Sometimes that ball is being moved around so far and the ball is shot and before you know it he’s slicing in and he’s getting the rebound before you even saw what happened …
“Rebounding is mostly effort and want-to, but it does have some technique to it. It’s the first one to see it go up. It’s not like it’s the old box-out drill where we’re all sitting there and the coach has the ball and I’m about to shoot. When that ball is moving like Utah State moves it and then all of sudden somebody shot it and you thought you were helping and somebody slices in … kudos to their offense and how good Bean is.”
1-3-1 AND DONE
Fresno State had hit just 14 of 39 shots (35.9%) when Blackwell knocked down those two threes midway through the second half, so it’s not like the Bulldogs were ripping up the Aggies’ man.
But when confronted with that zone, the Bulldogs couldn’t make a shot.
The first one, actually, went down. It was a 3-pointer by Niven Hart. The freshman banked it in from the left wing.
But Fresno State went 3 of 11 to finish the game, including 2 of 10 from behind the arc despite getting some solid looks.
Utah State (21-7, 10-5 in the MW) went 7 of 14 over the final 10 minutes, including 2 of 5 from the 3-point line.
“When they went to their zone, if we could have made a couple of those open threes it would have been different,” Hutson said. “We made one, because we had good 3-point shooters open. We wanted to look inside and get it to the high post and we had Noah and New open on the wings for the 1-3-1. You make a couple of those and it’s a different game.”
THE 7-10 SPLIT
New Mexico lost to UNLV 78-73 on Saturday, only its second loss at home this season, leaving an opening for the Bulldogs to sneak into the No. 7 seed for the Mountain West Conference Tournament
The big benefit to that is a potential quarterfinal matchup against the No. 2 seed from the No. 7-No. 10 game rather than a game against No. 1 San Diego State from the No. 8-No. 9 game.
What do the Bulldogs and Lobos have remaining?
Fresno State (5-10 and in eighth place) has three games remaining, home games on Wednesday against Air Force and Feb. 29 against Wyoming sandwiched around a game at Nevada.
The Falcons are 4-10 and had lost seven games in a row before beating San Jose State on Saturday, and the Cowboys are 1-13 with three losses since winning at San Jose State.
New Mexico (6-8 and in seventh) has four games remaining, at home against Nevada on Tuesday, at Boise State on Sunday, at Air Force and then home against Utah State.
The Aggies are 10-5 and the Broncos and Wolf Pack are 9-5. New Mexico also has lost four of its past five games and six of its past eight.
This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 5:12 AM.