Fresno State fails to build on big win, faltering badly in 22-point loss at Colorado State

Fresno State followed up one of its biggest men’s basketball wins in years with not much of anything Saturday in a 79-57 loss to Colorado State at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo., where it is now 3-19 all-time.

Coming off a victory over No. 21 New Mexico, the Bulldogs’ first win over a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since 2002, Fresno State was sliced up at the defensive end, giving up layups and open shots to a team that had been somewhat lost at the start of Mountain West play.

The Rams had dropped their first three conference games by an average of 12.7 points, losing at New Mexico, to San Jose State and at Nevada. But they found easy shots against the Bulldogs, racking up 26 assists on 29 made baskets and hitting 54.7% of their shots including 12 layups and 14 threes, the majority of them barely contested.

“They were good tonight,” coach Justin Hutson said on a postgame radio show. “You have to give them credit. But we weren’t any good. You have to let everybody know we weren’t Bulldogs tonight. We have to be better.”

The Bulldogs (6-9, 2-2 Mountain West) were not any better at the offensive end, and were hitting a higher percentage of their 3-point shots than their 2-point shots well past the under-8 minute timeout in the second half.

That’s from a team that ranks last in the Mountain West and 344th of 352 in the nation in 3-point shooting. Fresno State finished 19 of 49 (38.8%), going 11 of 26 (42.3%) and 8 of 23 (34.8%).

The Bulldogs hit a lower percentage of their 2-point shots in a 67-60 loss at San Francisco (37.8%) in November at the Save Mart Center, but Colorado State (9-8, 1-3) built a 12-point lead at halftime and was never seriously threatened down the stretch in winning an eighth game in a row in the series.

Fresno State, which plays Tuesday at San Jose State, couldn’t get the stops or sustain anything at the offensive end.

The Bulldogs had one stretch in a half where they made more than three shots in a row, hitting their first five to start the second half. But after trailing by 12 at halftime, they still were down by 10 after going 5 of 5, then proceeded to miss their next six shots and went without a field goal for almost seven minutes.

Forward Isaih Moore hit 8 of 12 shots including three threes in leading the Bulldogs with a season-high 23 points and had eight rebounds. But he struggled at the defensive end, allowing a minus-4.1 net points.

“He did a good job,” Hutson said. “He kept fighting tonight. We have to give him help on the shuffle screens and then he has to guard (Patrick) Cartier a little better in the first half than what he did. He let him get layup after layup. But the one thing that we’re proud of is he kept fighting.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2023 at 5:19 PM.