Fresno State routs San Jose State in return. But ‘Dogs now likely out key player rest of season

Fresno State played a basketball game Tuesday for the first time in two weeks due to a COVID-19 pause, taking on San Jose State.

The Bulldogs were without guard Jemarl Baker, who coach Justin Hutson said is now likely out for the season with a knee injury. And while Fresno State was sidelined with a few positive cases in the program and a few more out due to close contacts, some were able to work out but most were not.

The team was not together in practice much at all, just the past six days.

But it did not much matter against San Jose State as the Bulldogs routed the Spartans 79-59 at the Save Mart Center.

“Jelling and the pandemic, those two things don’t really go together,” Hutson said. “It’s more, we’re going to survive. We’re out there, and we’re going to compete and survive and not make any excuses and whoever we have, we’re going to go play.”

Hutson can say that with some degree of confidence as long as Orlando Robinson and Anthony Holland are on the floor, and the Bulldogs juniors provided a good peek at what they might look like going forward.

Robinson scored a season-high 31 points with 12 rebounds, including seven at the offensive end with four assists. He surpassed the 1,000-point career milestone on a fastbreak dunk in the second half.

Holland registered a career-high 20 points with 11 rebounds and five assists.

They took nearly 60% of the Bulldogs’ shots and Robinson had a huge usage percentage of 63.6%, an estimate of the percentage of team plays that used a player while they were on the floor. Holland was 29.7% and no one else who hit the floor was at 20%.

That’s two big pieces to build around as the Bulldogs reboot without Baker at the offensive end, where they have had some issues, particularly late in games in their four losses this season.

The last time the Bulldogs were on the floor, Robinson got one shot in the final 6:12 of a 65-55 loss at Boise State after giving Fresno State (11-4, 1-1 in the MW) a lead there with a basket in the paint, and Holland was back at home due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Bulldogs’ efficiency at offensive end

That did not happen against the Spartans (7-6, 0-1), who had their first three Mountain West games postponed due to COVID-19 concerns in their program and had drilled Bethesda College on Saturday in a game added to the schedule coming out of a two-week break.

Robinson got a career-high 24 shots up. When he set a career-high with 33 points in a victory over Wyoming last Jan. 4, he hit 12 of 16 shots and was 8 of 11 at the foul line.

“That’s great,” said Robinson of becoming the 34th player in Fresno State history to reach 1,000 career points. “It is a great one to have under the belt, and I look forward to keep going.”

The Bulldogs were as efficient as they have been all season, despite the break.

They hit 52.5% of their shots (31 of 59), their second-highest percentage this season.

They moved and shared the basketball, recording 15 assists including six on their first six makes in the game.

They had only five turnovers, a season-low.

They scored at 1.436 points per possession, which is their highest mark this season.

They did that with two weeks off, Robinson and Holland, and a defense that has been stellar from the start.

“You’re not doing a lot of five on five, up and down,” Hutson said. “You have some guys that need some conditioning, you have some guys that are coming back from being sick, you have some guys that need a little rest. What you try to do is maybe work on their mind and maybe a little conditioning with that. But what we did not do is play a whole lot of basketball up and down and you knew it was going to be a little rusty.

“But you were really saying, ‘We’re going to make sure we’re healthy and make sure we learn a little bit in these six or seven days that we were off and we had groups in there.’”

Bulldogs notes

• Robinson has scored 1,008 points in 69 career games. He is 32nd on the all-time scoring list. Next up is Hector Hernandez, who scored 1,032 points from 2004 to ‘08. …
• Fresno State had just five turnovers, a season-low. It had six twice, a victory over Santa Clara and the loss at Boise State. The last time Fresno State had fewer turnovers in a game was a 64-59 victory at Wyoming on Feb. 25, 2015. The Bulldogs had four turnovers in that game. …
• The Bulldogs are now 8-0 at the Save Mart Center this season, 2-0 on a neutral floor and 1-4 in road games. …

Up next: Fresno State at UNLV

When: Friday, 8 p.m.

Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas

TV: FS1

Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Marc Q Jones)

• Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app

The coaches: Justin Hutson (57-44 in fourth season); Kevin Kruger (9-6, 1-1, first season)

The records: Fresno State 11-4, 1-1 in the MW; UNLV 9-6, 1-1

The Rebels: UNLV returned after having two games postponed due to COVID concerns and drilled New Mexico 85-56 on Tuesday. Donovan Williams led the Rebels with 29 points, hitting 10 of 12 shots including 2 of 2 at the 3-point line.

This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 11:33 PM.