Another Fresno State loss sends coach Justin Hutson to a first in his four years
San Diego State and Fresno State are two of the best defensive basketball teams in the Mountain West, first and second in the conference in points allowed, first and third in opponent’s field goal percentage.
Put them on the floor together and any game figures to be a grinder, with points few and far between, and it was on Saturday for the Bulldogs and for Matt Bradley, the Aztecs’ leading scorer.
But San Diego State got more than enough offense from unusual and even stunning places in handing the Bulldogs’ a fourth loss in a row, a rough 61-44 setback at the Save Mart Center.
The Bulldogs obviously did not, their offense continuing to flail away, hitting just 34.1% of their shots including 30% at the 3-point line and turning over the basketball 14 times, a big number in a small possession game.
“I haven’t said this much in the four years I’ve been here, sometimes it’s make or miss,” coach Justin Hutson said. “The story of the game was points off turnovers, offensive rebounds, and the disappointing part was some of our turnovers were when we were on a fast break to get a basket.
“Yeah, they forced a couple in the first half, but we had enough self-inflicted turnovers when we got a steal and were on the break and were supposed to get excited and get a basket and we lose it and then it goes back to them, and that was a little demoralizing. That’s how good a defense we played. You’re turning the ball over and you’re still holding them to 60 points and it could have been less than that. We just have to play better offensively. We have to make some shots.”
The Bulldogs, didn’t; couldn’t. The 44 points were the fewest they have scored in a game since a 50-43 loss to Colorado on Dec. 12, 2012. And, in a four-game losing streak, Fresno State has hit just 35.7% of its shots including 23.7% at the 3-point line.
Threes and jump shots have been a problem in that stretch. The Bulldogs went into the game against San Diego State ranked as the worst shooting 3-point team in the Mountain West by a sizable margin, and in the losing streak the Bulldogs’ 3-point rate is 44.3%, up from 37.3% in the first 22 games of the season.
More threes, more misses. But that’s nothing new for the Bulldogs (16-10, 6-7 in the MW). It was more what the Aztecs (17-6, 9-3) were able to do without much from Bradley, who had taken nearly one-quarter of their shots and was their leading scorer by a big margin, his 17.8 points per game more than his next two teammates combined.
Bulldogs’ shooting woes, and offensive inefficiency
Teams this season have held Bradley to eight, seven and three points, and all of them had beaten the Aztecs.
Fresno State held him to a season-low two, going 1 of 8 and 0 of 2 from three.
But forward Chad Baker-Mazara, who went into the game having scored 10 or more points just three times in 21 games with a season-high of 15, scored 20 points in 21 minutes. He hit 6 of 7 shots including 4 of 5 threes.
Forward Keshad Johnson was averaging 7.3 points per game and scored 13 against the Bulldogs including a 3-pointer, which snapped a 1 of 21 streak on threes.
Josh Tomaic had scored just 3.0 points per game, but he was 3 of 3 including a three. For Tomaic, it was his first made 3-pointer since a Jan. 31 victory over New Mexico, and after playing just nine and five minutes in the Aztecs’ previous two games he had seven points.
Trey Pulliam also surpassed his season scoring average, scoring nine points with eight assists, which was a season-high and one more assist than Fresno State had as a team.
San Diego State just kept moving forward, getting 30 points from its bench.
The Bulldogs kept moving backward, and it hurt again in the standings. Fresno State dropped out of fifth place in the Mountain West and a first-round bye next month at the conference tournament on Tuesday with a loss to UNLV, and not only did the Bulldogs lose again, the Rebels on Saturday upset Colorado State.
Fresno State is in sixth place, still, but farther behind UNLV (16-11, 8-6) with Nevada (12-13, 6-8) and Utah State (15-13, 6-9) just behind. It has a chance to right itself on Tuesday at Air Force, which has dropped seven games in a row.
Bulldogs notes
Since the start of the 2019-20 season, San Diego State is 4-0 at the Save Mart Center. The other teams to play at Fresno State are a combined 12-24. …
Deon Stroud played 17 minutes in his first action in three games. Stroud was 0 of 2, but 3 of 4 at the foul line in scoring three points with one rebound and two assists. Kyle Harding also made a brief appearance, playing three minutes in his first game since a Jan. 11 victory over San Jose State. …
The Bulldogs hit just 8 of 21 shots inside the 3-point line (38.1%) including five missed layups. In the 4-game losing streak Fresno State has hit just 45.3% of its 2-point shots. …
Up next: Fresno State at Air Force
When: Tuesday, 6 p.m.
Where: Clune Arena; Colorado Springs, Colo.
TV/Streaming: Mountain West Network
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 (16-10, 6-7 in the MW), Air Force (10-15, 3-11)
The Falcons: Air Force lost 75-67 at Wyoming on Saturday, its seventh loss in a row, and there have been some blowout losses in that stretch. The Falcons lost by 27 points at Utah State (73-46), 34 at UNLV (78-44) and 26 at Boise State (85-59), and they have allowed opponents to hit 56.4% of their shots including 39.3% from the 3-point line. Air Force has hit 43.6%, but really struggled from three, going just 40 of 142, 28.2%. They were 9 of 19 in the loss at Wyoming, but in the six losses before that had hit less than 30% of three five times.