Three takeaways from Fresno State win over Wyoming, including exploiting mismatches
Fresno State played through Orlando Robinson from start to finish and put together its most efficient game of the season Monday in an 81-61 victory over Wyoming at the Save Mart Center.
The 7-foot sophomore scored a career-high 33 points and with 13 rebounds had his fifth double-double in six games.
Robinson hit 12 of 16 shots including his only attempt from the 3-point line, had one assist, two blocks and two steals. He might have had five assists, making four deft passes out of the paint to shooters ranging from open to wide open, but those shots did not go down.
Fresno State (3-3, 1-3 Mountain West) also got 17 points and nine rebounds from Christian Gray and 11 from Deon Stroud, hitting 55.4% of its shots and scoring at 1.266 points per possession.
In the Bulldogs’ first three conference games, it had scored at .779 and .819 points per possession in 22-point losses at Colorado State and 1.014 in a loss to the Cowboys (7-2, 1-1) in the first of a two-game series.
Here are three takeaways from the game …
Bulldogs take advantage of mismatch, this time
The Bulldogs opened Mountain West play with the two losses at Colorado State, and in those games Robinson had to deal with constant double teams. When he got a touch in the paint, that second defender would come down, without fail.
Wyoming chose not to defend Robinson the same way, but Fresno State didn’t take full advantage of that in a four-point loss in the opening game of this series.
No matter how many games the Bulldogs win or lose this season, that first loss to Wyoming will still be a curiosity.
Robinson started that game hitting five of his first six shots and was 7 of 10 into the second half, but then went through a prolonged stretch where he barely got the ball. He had foul trouble, but was on the floor for stretches totaling more than eight minutes while getting only two shots and one trip to the foul line.
That wasn’t the case Monday.
When the ball went inside, Robinson turned it into points. He was 12 of 16 and got to the foul line, hitting 8 of 11 free throws. The 11 foul shots were as many as he got in the past two games combined.
“Well, it’s very easy, honestly, because Colorado State had that consistent double team and it worked to an extent,” he said. “But, one-on-one, I have more space. I have more freedom. I can see the floor. I can create for myself and my teammates. That freedom kind of is what built that 33 points.
“I actually like when people play me like that. I hope people do …”
It’s debatable how many will, from here.
But the Bulldogs will continue to run offense through the post – they have all season, but are just getting much better at it.
“It has been an emphasis feeding him the ball all year along, but it takes a few to tango on that,” coach Justin Hutson said. “He has to post-up strong and give good targets and not get impatient. Our guards have to search and see which way we’re getting it to him.
“We have a lot of different ways to get it to him, and it’s going to take some time for that timing, the timing and being able to read each other and see what’s going on. We have different ways we’re trying to get Orlando the ball in different spots and sometimes we’re just a little confused.”
That wasn’t an adjustment to the 3-ball
Wyoming hit only 38.6% of its shots and was only 5 of 17 at the 3-point line, a big difference from the opening game when it was 12 of 30.
By percentage, that’s 29.4% down from 40%.
By points scored, that’s 15 down from 36.
That also was a key for the Bulldogs’ defensively, though they didn’t really approach it much differently.
“It was baffling,” Hutson said. “The whole game plan in the first game was getting them off the 3-point line. We actually didn’t change any strategy. We did the same exact strategy. They can say, ‘Wow, they made an adjustment.’ No, we just did it better, and that’s what life experiences are.
“Some of the things we talked about we couldn’t do falling asleep on the weak side, losing our man, having bad vision. They threw it in and they would cut and get it out. We actually didn’t change much of our strategy, we just executed it this time.”
The five makes from the 3-point line, as well as the 17 attempts, were season lows for the Cowboys, who came in as the best 3-point shooting team in the Mountain West.
A Bulldogs bench mark
The Bulldogs’ bench outscored Wyoming’s 43-18, with Christian Gray just missing a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds, Deon Stroud scoring 11, Jordan Campbell eight and Kyle Harding seven.
The 43 points is the most Fresno State has had off the bench in a game against a Division I opponent over the past 10 seasons.
“We’re figuring it out on the fly,” Hutson said. “That’s the best way I can describe it – we’re trying to figure it out on the fly. You’re going to give some guys a couple of games, see if they’re doing what you’re asking and I saw some good stuff from the guys off the bench playing Bulldog basketball. They took care of it. They played hard defense, and they shared it.”
Gray did not play in the first game against Wyoming due to a back issue, but took advantage of the same one-on-one matchups in the post.
The 17 points more than doubled his career-high – he had scored eight against Alaska-Anchorage in 2018, at San Diego State in 2019 and against William Jessup in the opening game this season.
Layup lines
- The Bulldogs had nine assists and 12 turnovers, and have had more turnovers than assists in all six of their games.
- Fresno State had a 42-25 rebounding advantage and turned 12 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
- The Bulldogs had seven blocks, including two by Robinson. The last time they had more blocks in a game was four years ago to the day, Jan. 4, 2017, when they had 11 in an 85-70 victory over Wyoming.
- Campbell hit two threes in scoring eight points. Coming in, he had hit just 2 of 17 shots from the 3-point line in his college career starting at Oregon State and the past season-plus with the Bulldogs.
- Fresno State was 3 of 11 shooting the basketball at the 13:04 mark, but ended the first half 15 of 28, making 12 of its final 17 shots to go from down four to up 11 at the break.
Up next for the ’Dogs
FRESNO STATE VS. SAN JOSE STATE
When/where: Friday, 6 p.m. and Sunday, 4 p.m. at the Save Mart Center
Streaming/radio: Mountain West Network/ESPN (940 AM)
Records: Bulldogs 3-3, 1-3 Mountain West, Spartans 2-6, 0-4
Series: Bulldogs lead 90-77
Last meeting: Niven Hart scored 30 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 84-78 overtime victory Feb. 12, 2020, at the Event Center in San Jose. Orlando Robinson had 13 points and 12 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the season.
Coaches: Justin Hutson (37-31, third season), Jean Prioleau (17-83, fourth season)
Bulldogs women back to .500
The Fresno State women’s basketball team beat Wyoming 83-80 in overtime Monday in Laramie to even the Bulldogs’ records at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the Mountain West.
Haley Cavinder scored 24 and Maddi Utti had 23 with 10 rebounds for Fresno State, which next plays at San Jose State on Friday and Sunday.
Wrestling opens season
Three Fresno State wrestlers – DJ Lloren, Kyle Parco and Hunter Cruz – went undefeated to highlight the Bulldogs’ final season-opener Sunday in a tri-meet against Utah Valley and Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo. Fresno State won 17 of 33 matches.
The Bulldogs’ next date is Saturday at No. 18 Stanford. The home opener is Jan. 15, a Big 12 dual against Wyoming.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 8:17 PM.