Fresno State men’s basketball Mountain West opener preview: Preparing for unknown

The game had been over for a few hours, and it was getting late. Inside the Save Mart Center there were a few lights on in the suites and around the arena, but that’s about it. It was dark. But Fresno State forward Orlando Robinson was back out there anyway, trying to make sense of a 5 of 17 night against Fresno Pacific, an NCAA Division II team that lacked the length and athleticism to match up very well with the Bulldogs’ 7-foot sophomore.

“I was missing shots that I usually make 9 out of 10 times, 10 out of 10 times,” Robinson said. “I don’t miss layups, the easiest shot in the game.

“When I was missing so many of them, I was like, ‘There’s something wrong and I have to fix it, and I have to fix it soon because I can’t come up to conference play missing 12 shots.’”

So Robinson made his way back on the floor about an hour after the Bulldogs’ victory to get up some shots from the block, in the paint. “That’s my bread and butter – post hooks, inside paint touches,” he said.

Those also are the ones that he had missed against the Sunbirds when starting the game 0 of 6, going 1 of 9 in the first half and 1 of 10 before knocking down three shots in a row starting with a dunk off an assist by Deon Stroud, then a layup, then an open three.

Coming out of a third pause following positive coronavirus tests within the program, including Robinson, no doubt had an impact. The timing wasn’t there. The conditioning wasn’t at the same level.

The shot, everything, was just a little out of whack.

Coach Justin Hutson loathes excuses, but that time off the court and how it will impact the Bulldogs is perhaps the biggest question for a team that has yet to play a Division I opponent.

BULLDOGS OPEN CONFERENCE PLAY AT COLORADO STATE

On Monday, they will play their first, opening Mountain West Conference play with the first of a two-game series at Colorado State. Tipoff at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo., is 5 p.m., and on Wednesday 1 p.m.

“Every day that we play, every day that we’re in the gym, every game that we play, we are going to develop some chemistry,” Hutson said.

But there isn’t much concern among the Bulldogs’ staff about Robinson, and 25 minutes on the floor against Fresno Pacific. What did they tell him? “Next time, shoot it with your eyes open,” associate head coach Tarvish Felton joked.

They know Robinson will get his work in.

The shots will go down, as they have in the past. As a freshman last season Robinson ranked 10th in the Mountain West Conference in 2-point field goal percentage at 55.3%.

“The good thing is we were able to get him the ball in places where we think he can be pretty effective,” Felton said. “I know the first few shots he took in the first half, I don’t think there was one outside of six feet and so for him to be 1 of 9 I think it was in the first half on shots from six feet and in, I don’t think that’s going to happen very often.

“He has shown that when he’s in shape and has his rhythm and timing down he’s a 70% shooter from that distance. Those numbers don’t bother you one way or the other when he has a poor shooting night that way.”

Two games in, the Bulldogs (2-0) clearly have some pieces with the additions of transfers Isaiah Hill (Tulsa), Stroud (Texas-El Paso), Junior Ballard (Cal Poly) and Devin Gage (DePaul).

How quickly can they come together, with limited time on the floor?

WORKING THROUGH A THIRD COVID-19 PAUSE

Robinson expects it to fit together quickly, even though much of the work that most years would have been done on the court Hutson and his staff have had to deliver remotely with film and in Zoom meetings.

“I expected all my guys to come back with a sense of urgency,” he said. “We had to come back and know all these things and get our chemistry right, because we don’t have much time. How they came back, there were expectations, and they met my expectations.”

He also doesn’t expect to see 5 of 17 again – he was 4 of 16 from inside the 3-point line, hitting just 25% of his shots within a few feet of the rim.

Fresno State had a few more practices before Christmas. Robinson got in additional work trying to get past the three coronavirus pauses and the time away.

That did merit some slack, but not much and definitely not for long.

“It did,” he said. “I wasn’t on myself so much. I was going at it from the understanding that I had just had COVID. I had like five days to come back to practice. We’ve had to quarantine three times this season, and it has been detrimental to my process. In a perfect world, where we’d have a season without COVID, my skills would be on the rise throughout. I feel like I would have done the best that I could, and it would show.

“But I was still looking at it from the standpoint that I need to be better. Conference is coming and I won’t have this COVID excuse, because I have time to fix it and when I do it will show.”

TV, MATCHUP

Where and when: Moby Arena, Fort Collins, Colo.; Monday, 5 p.m. and Wednesday, 1 p.m.

Streaming/Radio: Mountain West Network/ESPN940AM

Records: Bulldogs 2-0, Colorado State 3-1

Series: Colorado State leads 18-16

Last meeting: Nico Carvacho had a double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds to lead Colorado State in an 80-70 victory at the Save Mart Center and season sweep. The Rams won the first game 86-68.

Coaches: Justin Hutson (36-28, third season), Niko Medved (35-32, third season at Colorado State, 114-121 overall)

Line: Colorado State -7.5