Fresno State’s offensive rhythm off while stumbling to No. 25 San Diego State
With just two regular-season games remaining and perhaps a makeup of one of two postponed Mountain West men’s basketball games, Fresno State continues to struggle to put anything together at the offensive end and play with consistency.
Bulldogs coach Justin Hutson runs 10 players into a game, trying this and that, going with two bigs or four guards or this guard and that one.
Sometimes, it’s there.
Most of the time.
One has to wonder how much the three COVID-19 pauses and the late start to the season have impacted the Bulldogs.
Because once again, Fresno State struggled to find a rhythm en route a 75-57 loss to No. 25 San Diego State at the Save Mart Center.
The Aztecs (17-4 overall, 11-3 Mountain West) are not the menace they have been in the past, when just squeezing the life out of opponents.
But they still are leading the Mountain West in scoring defense, in field goal percentage defense and steals, and are a tough matchup for the Bulldogs.
Fresno State got 17 points from Deon Stroud and 16 from Orlando Robinson, but also had 15 turnovers, just nine assists and were held to fewer than 60 points for the seventh time in 18 games.
The Aztecs haven’t defended the 3-point line to the same level, but the Bulldogs can’t shoot it with much proficiency, anyway.
Fresno State (9-9, 7-9) went in 10th in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting just 30.5% of 344 shots, and it was 5 of 20 in the loss to the Aztecs (25%).
That had a deleterious impact on the defensive end.
San Diego State (17-4, 11-4) struggled at the 3-point line in the first game of this Mountain West series, but on Saturday hit 8 of 12 threes with several of them coming in transition and wide open.
“We were able to lock in in the half court and follow a game plan and do a decent job and fight and take away threes (in the first game) and we were better tonight on pick and roll,” Hutson said.
“But when we missed open looks, I think we got a little discouraged. And if you get discouraged at that point in time, they came down, moved the ball and got a lot of threes in transition. And give them credit, they nailed them.”
The Bulldogs did not.
Robinson got going late, hitting his final five shots in a physical game in the paint. He had two nice assists out of the post, but also five of the Fresno State turnovers.
“I saw him make some nice plays inside, kicking it out, finishing inside,” Hutson said. “He made a few free throws and then on the outside, sometimes we had a few turnovers that we wish we had back.”
Stroud had an equally mixed game. He started 0 of 3 with two turnovers and got the majority of his points off the dribble or in transition. He did knock down one three, going 1 of 6 there. But five of his seven made baskets came on layups and he was 5 of 6 at the rim and just 2 of 13 everywhere else, 7 of 19 total.
But, that’s where the Bulldogs are at the moment – they have not hit 70 points since an 80-65 victory over San Jose State on Jan. 10, a span of 10 games. San Diego State led for 38:54 and by as many as 23 points, a more comfortable margin than it sounds given the Bulldogs’ inconsistency. The 18-point win was the Aztecs’ largest margin of victory at Fresno State since a 51-29 win on Jan. 10, 1947.
“I thought our fight is still there – now, it’s not always consistent,” Hutson said. “I thought we generated better shots, they just didn’t go in so I think we scored about the same amount of points, but our transition defense was horrendous and I think that usually comes from young guys missing shots.
“We have to be a little bit more mature, get back and stop.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 9:26 PM.