What happened to Fresno State at San Jose State? ‘It was a little bit of everything’

Fresno State was without guard Jemarl Baker and lost point guard Isaiah Hill at the 14:00 mark in the second half. But taking two big pieces out at the offensive end really wasn’t the Bulldogs’ most pressing problem on Tuesday in a 74-64 men’s basketball loss at San Jose State, which snapped an 11-game winning streak in the series.

It was the defense, again, for the first time in a long time.

San Jose State had hit just 40.8% of its shots in four Mountain West games and 29.8% from the 3-point line, ranking 10th of 11 in the conference in both. But coming off a 27-point home loss to Nevada, the Spartans took advantage of open shots all over the floor. They hit 19 of 28 shots inside the 3-point line including 16 of 22 at the rim on layups and dunks, 12 of 29 from the 3-point line and 54.4% in the game.

In its past two games, Fresno State has now allowed Colorado State to hit 54.7% of its shots and the Spartans 54.4% and that is only the second time in four-plus seasons and 138 games under coach Justin Hutson that the Bulldogs have allowed back-to-back opponents to hit at a 50% clip.

The last time: Jan. 22 and 25 in 2020 when Colorado State and Boise State went 54.0% and 54.2% back-to-back.

“Not enough defense,” Hutson said. “Intelligence, togetherness, fatigue, not deep enough. It was a little bit of everything. We should be better than that. We should have guarded pick and roll better than we did. We should have helped each other better than we did. We had enough guys to do it, but being fatigued and having guys play longer stretches definitely has something to do with it.”

That was evident when the Bulldogs (6-10, 2-3 in the MW) made a run with Hill on the bench after taking a hit to the head and Baker in street clothes on the bench with a balky knee. Fresno State trailed by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, but got within 60-56 on a 3-pointer by Donavan Yap with 5:48 remaining.

Fresno State when allowing an opponent to hit 50% of its shots usually has come back fairly locked in in its next game. This season, Sacramento State was at 50% beating the Bulldogs 59-53 at the Save Mart Center. Next time out, the Bulldogs held Bakersfield to 29.5% in a 56-48 road win. Last season, Pepperdine was at 54.5% and Santa Clara 36.0%; Boise State was 55.6% and San Jose State 42.0%; Nevada was at 56.0% and New Mexico 36.4%.

But this time, Fresno State couldn’t get additional stops it needed to get even with or past the Spartans.

San Jose State point guard Alvaro Cardenas hit a three, a Bulldogs turnover turned into a dunk, a missed shot turned into a pick-and-roll layup by former Bulldogs forward Robert Vaihola.

In 85 seconds, Fresno State was back down by double-digits.

“It’s a combination of a couple of things that we have to tune up,” said Anthony Holland, who hit 6 of 10 shots from the 3-point line in scoring 18 points. “We’re a way better defensive team than the way we’ve been playing. We just have to go back to the lab and fix some of those problems that we’ve been having. We just have to get it done. We know what to do. We just need to execute it.”

BULLDOGS NOTES

The Spartans shooting percentage at the rim on layups and dunks (16 of 22, 72.7%) is especially glaring because the Bulldogs were just 11 of 23 there (47.8%). Fresno State missed 12 layups.

Holland had scored in double-digits just three times this season with a high of 13 points against Fresno Pacific and San Francisco. He had hit 5 of 14 threes over the past four games.

San Jose State, second in the Mountain West with 10.8 offensive rebounds per game, had nine against the Bulldogs leading to 15 second-chance points. The Spartans had a 15-5 advantage there.

Yap led the Bulldogs back into the game in the second half. In 29 minutes he hit 5 of 12 shots including 1 of 2 at the 3-point line in scoring 13 points and had five assists with two turnovers.

NEXT FOR FRESNO STATE

Saturday, 4 p.m. vs. Air Force, Save Mart Center