Fresno State, behind Deon Stroud, makes big push in second half to get by Utah State

It would be difficult for Fresno State to duplicate its first half on Tuesday against Utah State. It was that bad, at both ends of the floor. The Bulldogs had trouble scoring, and even more trouble defending.

They were down by as many as 16 points and, improbably, by only 10 at halftime despite hitting 21.7% of their shots while the Aggies hit 57.7% of theirs.

But the Bulldogs got a nice boost from guard Deon Stroud, who has not been the most consistent player coach Justin Hutson has put on the floor but nevertheless led a second-half surge in a 61-54 victory over the Aggies at the Save Mart Center to get to 13-4 and 3-1 in the Mountain West Conference.

Stroud led the Bulldogs with 14 points, 12 coming in the second half including seven of their points in a row and a 3-pointer with 9:15 to go that gave Fresno State its first lead of the game at 41-40.

“It was kind of a surreal feeling,” he said. “That’s a shot I work on a lot, so not too excited, but kind of excited because we got the lead after that.”

Down guard Jemarl Baker (knee), with Junior Ballard missing some practice time while dealing with a shin injury and Destin Whitaker just making his way back from a foot injury, the Bulldogs would get a significant boost if Stroud could duplicate his 21 minutes against Utah State.

He had seen the floor over the past seven games, averaging 17.3 minutes while making only 13 of 45 shots (28.9%) including 3 of 15 at the 3-point line. He also had cut down on the turnovers, made some plays at the defensive end, rebounded here and there, but consistency was an issue.

Stroud, when Bulldogs most needed him

Stroud had 14 rebounds in that stretch, but 10 came in one game and he had none in two games. He had nine assists, four in one game and none in two games. He had six steals, three in one game and none in four games.

Hutson had played him as many as 27 minutes in a loss at Utah and as few as seven in a victory over San Jose State.

But it is there, and Hutson said he can see it emerging.

“We’re going to need Deon,” he said. “We’re going to need Deon to score and it comes at a good time because he has been working really hard.

“It’s getting more there. It’s more about winning basketball – taking care of it, taking good shots and defending and rebounding. When he does that, he’s going to get more time because I believe the shoots are going to go in. He hasn’t been turning it over as much. That was one of the charges that we brought to him – you can’t turn it over so much like you used to, and then take good shots, because you’re going to have some freedom there.”

Stroud, who hit 4 of 6 shots in the second half, said it is just a matter of staying locked in to what he is asked to do.

“It’s keeping a straight edge,” he said. “My teammates do a good job keeping me involved, even when I’m not willing to. It’s that, really.”

The Bulldogs had a few other pieces working in that second half with Anthony Holland knocking down three threes including one that pushed the Bulldogs’ lead to 56-52 with 1:09 to go and Orlando Robinson bouncing back from a rough first half to finish with 11 points and 13 rebounds with six assists and his third double-double in a row and fifth of the season.

Robinson was 1 of 6 and had five points in the first half, but that was far from the Bulldogs’ only problem in those first 20 minutes.

“I thought early in the game our intensity was not there,” Hutson said. “Our communication was not there. Our intensity was not there. We just weren’t sharp. We weren’t being lazy, we were a step slow. We weren’t communicating the right way and we gave up some layups.

“We didn’t make too many changes. Through the course of the game we made a few changes, but I thought we were just a little more locked in on what we were supposed to be doing.”

Bulldogs notes

Destin Whitaker, who had been out with a foot injury, played his first minutes since a Dec. 11 victory over UC Irvine. Whitaker was on the floor for 15 minutes and hit one shot, a 3-pointer that broke a Bulldogs’ run of more than 12 minutes without a made basket in the first half off an assist from Robinson.

Whitaker played ahead of Junior Ballard, who was held out, but not expected to miss much time. “His legs were sore from the operation and some of the stuff that he had going on,” Hutson said. “He wasn’t able to practice so I decided to go with Destin in front of him. But he’ll be available.”

The Bulldogs outscored Utah State 40-23 in the second half. The Aggies were 7 of 21 and had nine turnovers over the final 20 minutes, blowing a lead that was 16 points at its largest and 10 points at halftime.

The Bulldogs are 9-0 at the Save Mart Center, one shy of tying the arena record for consecutive wins.

Up next: Fresno State at Nevada

When: Friday, 8 p.m.

Where: Lawlor Events Center, Reno

TV: FS1

• Find it fast: AT&T Uverse (652, 1652), Comcast (35, 408, 731, 1208), DirecTV (219), Dish Network (150).
  
  

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 records: Fresno State (13-4, 3-1 in the MW), Nevada (8-7, 2-2).

The coaches: Justin Hutson (59-44, fourth season); Steve Alford (43-28 third season, 552-297 overall)

The Wolf Pack: Nevada is a talented team that is not playing all that well under Alford, who is a bit of an anchor in the third year of a 10-year contract. The Wolf Pack has one of the top guards in the Mountain West in Grant Sherfield, who is averaging 19.5 points (fourth in the conference) and 6.5 assists (first) per game. Nevada has had six games either canceled or postponed due to COVID-19 and is coming off a 77-67 loss to Wyoming on its home floor. It is just 5-3 at the Lawlor Events Center, after going 10-2 last season and 12-3 in 2019-20.