Now that Orlando Robinson is gone, who will Fresno State go to for baskets?

Fresno State got a bit of a surprise in its men’s basketball exhibition against Stanislaus State, which was not expected to be much of a game and was, because of a matchup zone.

But the Bulldogs figured it out in a 69-62 win, and perhaps along the way found one answer to questions that are sure to come for a team that includes a lot of complementary pieces who a year ago were running, cutting, passing and occasionally scoring around Orlando Robinson, who dominated usage at the offensive end.

Coach Justin Hutson in stretches in that second half had point guards Isaiah Hill and Donavan Yap on the floor together with Hill playing more off the ball and, while it was Stanislaus State, he showed something the Bulldogs lacked last season. He was a consistent and willing shooter from the perimeter. Hill hit 6 of 10 including 5 of 7 from the 3-point line in scoring a game-high 22 points.

Every one of those points came in the second half, when Fresno State hit 14 of its 24 shots (58.3%) with nine assists and five turnovers after going 9 of 22 (40.8%) in the first half with four assists and nine turnovers.

That, Hutson said, is something to explore as the Bulldogs open the season on Monday against Fresno Pacific at the Save Mart Center and get into a season that includes non-conference matchups against Washington and then Saint Mary’s or Vanderbilt at the Wooden Legacy and San Francisco and UC Irvine at the Save Mart Center.

“Absolutely,” Hutson said. “When you play a matchup like that it’s not more on the ball, off the ball, we’re all in it together. You’re playing off of them.

“But we could put them in certain situations and tell them to play off each other and drive and kick and do stuff, instead of having one guy dominate the ball. It wasn’t like a man-to-man thing, where you can say, ‘Hey, you’re on the ball, you’re off of it.’ But they played a matchup zone all night, so (Hill) ended up being off the ball more.”

Hill was one of the Bulldogs’ most consistent perimeter shooters a year ago, knocking down 36.9% of his threes.

SEARCHING FOR OFFENSE POST-ORLANDO ROBINSON

But playing the 6-foot senior off the ball could generate some offense, and that is the Bulldogs’ biggest question mark post-Robinson, who last season had a 33.7 usage rate and took 27% of their shots.

Jemarl Baker, when healthy, is a deft scorer. But a balky knee will need to be evaluated game to game and Hutson plans on closely monitoring his playing time. Anthony Holland last season hit 43.7% of his 3-point shots, but of the 26 players in the Mountain West to average 30 or more minutes last season only one took fewer shots per game. Destin Whitaker can knock down shots from the perimeter, but has yet to work his way to consistent minutes. Jordan Campbell is dynamic going to the rim, but inconsistent with his jump shot, hitting 50% on his twos a year ago and just 27.6% of his threes.

Southern Mississippi transfer Isaih Moore and Nebraska transfer Eduardo Andre have a presence inside.

There are other pluses, with Hill off the ball. Yap at 6-foot-3 is longer than the 6-foot Hill, as is the 6-4 Campbell and the 6-5 Baker and any of the three could handle the ball in the halfcourt.

“Sometimes you want (Jordan Campebll) and Jemarl (Baker) and ‘Dono’ to play pick and roll, because they’re so big,” Hutson said. “They see the corner pass. They see the lob. They see stuff. Isaiah has gotten better at that, also, but if you can keep those guys out there, you have a different dynamic and it allows (Hill) to be in the corner or come off of a screen and do stuff because he’s not your only ball handler.”

Hutson believes the Bulldogs will have one of the better defensive teams of his tenure, which includes two 23-win seasons and a championship in the postseason Basketball Classic in four years. It will be better, if the Bulldogs can keep Baker healthy, and if they can get freshman Joseph Hunter, JC transfer guard Jordan Brinson and center Chuks Isitua healthy and on the floor.

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY A KEY PIECE IN MOUNTAIN WEST

But whether the Bulldogs can outplay expectations again after they were picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West Conference in a preseason media poll likely comes down to their efficiency at the offensive end.

Go back five years and of the 20 teams that finished in the top four in the Mountain West, 17 ranked in the top four in offensive efficiency in conference play.

Fresno State was one of those teams in 2019, when going 23-9 in Hutson’s first year behind a senior-laden lineup led by guards Deshon Taylor, Braxton Huggins and forward Sam Bittner.

“It’s better that we learned some stuff about ourselves,” Hutson said after the exhibition victory. “We made a good halftime adjustment on our part and the guys stuck with it and made some big shots.

“We were rattled a little bit when we tried to do some things in the first half. We got them in at halftime and said, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do.’ And they said, ‘We’re good.’ That’s what I was most proud of. I was very proud of them for that.”

SEASON-OPENERS

Monday: doubleheader at Save Mart Center vs. Fresno Pacific

Women: 4:30 p.m. (CW59)

Men: 7 p.m.