Fresno State almost shoots itself out of Mountain West Tournament. Is that fatigue showing?
Fresno State forward Orlando Robinson is going to get doubled, which is not a secret at this point in the basketball season.
A team like San Jose State, which was just 1-17 in Mountain West play, really didn’t have many other credible choices.
And the Spartan did end up double-teaming Robinson.
Aggressively.
San Jose State threw everything at Robinson that coach Tim Miles could possibly come up with in a first-round matchup on Wednesday at the conference tournament.
And yet, Robinson still went for 31 points while again dominating the Bulldogs’ usage.
But the Spartans’ strategy almost worked as the No. 11 seed took the No. 6 Bulldogs to overtime before a fumble with a chance to win and a runner in the lane by guard Jordan Campbell pushed Fresno State into the quarterfinals with a 69-67 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Bulldogs (19-12) outside of Robinson had far too much trouble making shots coming off three games in six days to end the regular season, including a double-overtime loss at San Diego State and an overtime loss playing at elevation at Wyoming with just one travel day in between.
That’s the tough ones, and the easy ones.
Fresno State, which will play No. 3 San Diego State on Thursday at 8:30 p.m., was just 4 of 23 at the 3-point line (17.4%) and 19 of 32 at the free throw line (59.4%).
Some fatigue played a part in that, coach Justin Hutson said, which is another concern for a team that needs to win three games in three days to play for a tournament title.
“We’ll rest tonight, and we’ll play a few more guys tomorrow,” Hutson said.
If they can get by that, who knows?
“They have a special player, they’re elite defensively, very strong rebounding,” Miles said. “They’re probably looking at today like, ‘We’re going to shoot better next time. We’re going to make our free throws next time’ and they might. If they do, it should be a heck of a game with San Diego State, and beyond.”
But the Bulldogs aren’t the most physical team out there and fatigue isn’t going to help a team that does not shoot the basketball well to begin with – Fresno State entered the tournament tied with Air Force for 10th, or last, in the Mountain West in 3-point field goal percentage and now sits alone in 11th.
Fresno State beat the Spartans by 20 points at the Save Mart Center and by 30 points at the Event Center in San Jose State during the regular season, but was fully extended this time. The score was tied at 67 with 22 seconds to go when Omari Moore beat the Bulldogs’ press with a pass to Tibet Goerner, but Goerner fumbled it away, setting up the winning basket by Campbell with 0.6 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs did free up their 7-foot forward in the second half by moving him out to the elbow where the Spartans (8-23) couldn’t double him, a critical adjustment to give a rapidly-improving player more options with the ball and playing downhill. In that second half, he hit 5 of 6 shots and got to the line eight times.
But, going forward, it likely will come down to making shots. Against the Spartans the Bulldogs didn’t, and they weren’t getting poor looks from the 3-point line.
“I was happy with about 19 of them,” Hutson said. “There were a couple of times that we got butted up to the end of the clock and had to throw it up there. But they double-teamed ‘O’ very aggressively and, I told my wife this morning, we made them all up there. They did the same thing, but we made them all up there and it was a 30-point game. Well, when you miss them it gets really tough.”
Bulldogs notes
Fresno State ended up taking 41.1% of its shots from the 3-point line, which is a big number for a team that went into the game tied for last in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage. The Bulldogs are 1-5 this season when that attempted 3-point rate climbs to 45% or higher. ...
Robinson set a career-high with 15 free throw attempts, but hit only eight. He has set a career-high in back-to-back games – he had 14 foul shots at Wyoming to end the regular season. ...
Anthony Holland was only 1 of 9 in scoring seven points, but the junior forward had 12 rebounds including three at the offensive end, all of them in the final minute or in overtime. The Bulldogs had 14 offensive rebounds as a team,. but were able to turn them into only seven second-chance points.
Up next: No. 6 Fresno State vs. No. 3 San Diego State
When: Thursday, 8:30 p.m.
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas.
TV: CBS Sports Network
- Find it fast: AT&T Uverse (643, 1643), Comcast (418, 732), DirecTV (221), Dish Network (158)
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 (19-12, 8-9 in the MW), San Diego State (21-7, 13-4)
The Aztecs: San Diego State ended the regular season winning four games in a row and nine of 10, including a 61-44 blowout of the Bulldogs on Feb. 19 at the Save Mart Center and a 65-64 win in double-overtime on March 3 at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs in that stretch have allowed opponents to ht just 39.4% of their shots. Fresno State hit 34.1% and 33.9%, but had chances to win the game in San Diego with the final possession in regulation and again in overtime. Robinson hit 30% and 30.8% of his shots in those games, but got to the foul line 12 times in putting up a double-double in the game in San Diego with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 9:04 PM.