Fresno State goes guard-heavy to beat San Jose State and suddenly has winning streak working

Fresno State is 23 games into its season now, but some pieces appear to be falling into place for coach Justin Hutson with a three-guard lineup taking apart San Jose State 70-62 on Tuesday at the Save Mart Center, the Bulldogs’ first back-to-back wins in Mountain West Conference play this season.

Isaiah Hill scored 17 points, Donavan Yap had 16 and Jemarl Baker 15, the three guards combining to hit 19 of 36 shots including 6 of 9 at the 3-point line with nine assists, each playing to their advantages on the floor. They scored off the dribble, got into the paint to score or kick it to open shooters. Baker used his length, posting smaller defenders.

There is no question it has been a process for the Bulldogs to get to this point with injuries, missed practice time, not just in the backcourt but up and down the roster. But there also is a level of growth in there, displayed most definitively against the Spartans by Yap, but including Hill and Baker.

“There’s no answer to it with those guys besides what I’m saying. They had to grow up,” Hutson said. “Yeah, Dono and Zay, they were out there last year, but it was O’s (Orlando Robinson) team. They were, ‘Get the ball to Orlando.’ Now, those guys have to make decisions. Jemarl has to make decisions. Dono has to make decisions. Isaiah has to make decisions. It’s going through those guys and all of them have had some growing pains. They’ve had some bad games. But for them to come back and fight, that’s what gaining that experience is all about.”

The Bulldogs against San Jose State, and in the victory at UNLV that preceded it, have a different dynamic with them all on the floor together at both the offensive and defensive ends. And while the schedule gets much tougher in the next week with games on Friday at Nevada, Feb. 15 against San Diego State and Feb. 18 against a Colorado State team the Bulldogs have struggled against, they do have a chance to climb into fifth place in the conference and steal a bye in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament in March.

New Mexico lost to Nevada on Tuesday on a last-second jump shot by Kenan Blackshear and is now 19-5, but 6-5 in conference. The Bulldogs are only 9-14, but 5-7 in the Mountain West and San Jose State is in between at 5-6.

The key piece is continued growth, and as Hutson said, experienced guards in college basketball are a commodity.

The past two games, the Bulldogs have had it.

“If you can have three guards, you can be pretty good,” Hutson said.

BULLDOGS NOTES

San Jose State had 20 offensive rebounds in the game, but was able to convert them into only 12 second-chance points. The Spartans hit just 14 of 39 shots inside the 3-point line (35.9%) and were 10 of 27 at the rim on layups and dunks (37%). The most offensive rebounds against Fresno State this season was 13 in a rock-bottom, 23-point loss at Wyoming that preceded the Bulldogs’ modest winning streak. The last time a team had 20 or more against the Bulldogs was 2016 when Texas-San Antonio had 23. Fresno State won that game as well, 69-66.

Having three guards on the floor for much of the second half gave the Bulldogs a secondary push, scoring off their defense, which has been a hit and mostly miss thing to this point. Fresno State had a 19-4 advantage in fast break points and a 19-7 edge in points off turnovers.

Fresno State did not attempt a foul shot until the 9:39 mark in the second half and didn’t take a second until there was just 1:06 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs finished 8 of 9 at the free throw line.

Former Bulldogs forward Robert Vaihola scored 14 points with seven rebounds in just 23 minutes for San Jose State.

Next for Fresno State

Friday, 8 p.m. at Nevada (FS1)