Utah State offensive woes continue in loss at Fresno State
FRESNO, CA – It was a game of two different halves on Tuesday night in the Central Valley. Utah State Men’s Basketball, looking to bounce back after two straight conference losses decided in the final minutes, met the Fresno State Bulldogs and Mountain West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week Orlando Robinson in a critical conference bout.
The first twenty minutes were categorized by Aggie dominance, scoring 24 points in the paint and shooting 57.7% from the field to take a 10-point lead into the break after leading by as many as 16 in the first half.
The second twenty minutes was a much different half of basketball. A physical Utah State team that had its way in the first half could not match the physicality of the Bulldogs in the final 20 minutes.
The Aggies mustered just eight points in the paint during the second half and committed nine turnovers to allow Fresno State back into the game. The Bulldogs turned around a 21% first-half shooting performance to 56% from the field in the second half to nearly double their first-half point total and pull out a 61-54 win over the Aggies.
“This is a perfect example of the better defensive team is going to win the game,” junior Trevin Dorius said after the game.
Dorius ended the night with eight points and a team-leading seven rebounds, as well as playing a big hand in holding Robinson, Fresno State’s leading scorer averaging 19.8 points per game, to just 11 points.
“He’s definitely a talented player; he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve,” Dorius said on Robinson. “We thought if we could stop him from scoring, we’d slow him down, but he played well and adjusted to our defense.”
The Aggies have now dropped four out of their first five conference games for the first time since the 1986-87 season when they belonged to the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (renamed to the Big West one year later).
Their recent three-point shooting woes are a significant reason why. Since starting conference play, they are shooting just 18% from beyond the arc. Tonight, they were 2 of 12.
The Aggies were able to build a decent first-half lead largely because they had not even attempted a three-point attempt over the first 9:20 of the game. Going into the half they had one made three on just four attempts.
Utah State’s second half became one of outside-in basketball rather than their first-half inside-out approach, and they proceeded to go 1-8 from deep to total 16.8% for the game. The Aggies could not get back to their inside post-game and could not match the physically shown from the Bulldogs in the second half.
Head Coach Ryan Odom put it best after the game, saying, “The story of the game was about Fresno State’s ability to impose its will on the game through its defense. Obviously, a tough pill to swallow but not very complex.”