Fresno State Men’s Basketball: ’Dogs fight back, nearly upset Big East’s Marquette

Tuesday, December 6

Milwaukee, WI

4:30 p.m. PT

Fresno State

5-3

Marquette

7-2

Fresno State

Marquette

Photo by: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

Fresno State Men’s Basketball: ’Dogs fight back, nearly upset Big East’s Marquette

12/6/2016 8:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Fresno State men’s basketball team will be back home on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT when the Bulldogs host Cal Poly. Youth tickets are $5 with purchase of adult ticket at Save Mart Center Box Office.

By: By Stephen Trembley / Director of New Media

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – The Fresno State men's basketball team had its three-game win streak snapped in losing 84-81 on the road to the Marquette Golden Eagles on Tuesday night inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

How it happened: Fresno State (5-3) feverishly fought back from a 22-point first-half deficit and pulled within 78-76 on senior guard/forward Paul Watson's 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining in the second half.

The Bulldogs' comeback bid ran out of time as the Golden Eagles went 6-for-8 at the free throw in the final 36 seconds to close out the narrow victory.

Marquette (7-2) had entered the game averaging 96 points in its last four contests and extended its winning streak to five straight victories with the win over the Bulldogs.

Fresno State junior center Terrell Carter II scored a career-high 21 points, with 15 of his 21 points coming in the second half. Carter converted 71.4 percent of his field goal attempts (10-for-14), and also had four rebounds and two assists.

Quoteable:

Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach

"We kept climbing. We were right at the tip of it. If we tackle this thing the way I thought we would tackle it in the first half, I think it's anybody's ball game. We let a good offensive team get comfortable in the first half and they made some shots. I thought we didn't make aggressive plays to start the game. We had much better ball movement in the second half. The first half, we had some looks, we just missed some easy shots and then we had some drives here we didn't go in and finish. We weren't strong, in terms of trying to finish, early in the first half and we kind of let our offense dictate our defense in how hard we wanted to play and the urgency we wanted to have because of that."

On what he said to the team at halftime…
"I said to our guys, even when we're not making shots we have to get stops. We gave up 15 points in transition to start the game. That's way too many points for this kind of team that wants to do that. We have to sit down and make it a grind game and I thought in the second half we were much more physical. They felt us a lot more and we played in a much more aggressive attack mode at both ends of the floor."

Terrell Carter II, Fresno State junior center

On the team's mindset in the final weeks of non-conference play…
"We're right under 10 games in the season, so now guys are understanding how to mesh and understand what guys can do. It's looking better, but we just have to put a whole game together. That's what our next step is, putting a whole game together."

On what Coach Terry said at halftime…
"He challenged a lot of guys. He challenged our older players and a lot of our older guys responded. You're in a big atmosphere, so you don't want to just give away a game. You want to show that you can compete with the best and I think that's what we did. We have a lot of important guys that left last year and we have new guys that came in. We're just learning. We have to get guys going, but don't worry we'll get there."

Team Notes

Fresno State lost just its second road game in its last eight true road games.
Fresno State lost for the first time in a single possession game since Dec. 20, 2014. The Bulldogs had won their previous 11 games decided by a single possession (three points or fewer).
Fresno State had a season-best 24 assists, which is the most assists in a single game by Fresno State since head coach Rodney Terry's arrival in 2011. The last time Fresno State had at least 24 assists in a game was Jan. 24, 2011 when the Bulldogs had 27 in an 86-56 win over Seattle U.
Fresno State lost for the first time when converting at least 50 percent of its field goals since Dec. 7, 2013. The Bulldogs had won their last 21 games when they made at least 50 percent from the field.
Fresno State has now scored at least 80 points in seven of its last 14 games, including three times this season.
Fresno State lost for the first time when scoring 80 points or more since Jan. 22, 2014. The Bulldogs had won their last 19 games when they scored at least 80 points.
Fresno State dropped to 15-3 in its last 18 games decided by five points or fewer.
Fresno State dropped to 29-3 when scoring 80 or more points since head coach Rodney Terry's arrival in 2011, and 23-2 in those games since the start of the 2013-14 season.
Fresno State dropped to 0-3 all-time when playing Big East opponents. In addition to Tuesday's loss at Marquette, Fresno State lost 58-40 to Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA Sweet Sixteen in Salt Lake City and lost 71-63 to Villanova in the 1991 Rainbow Classic in Honolulu.
Fresno State dropped to 0-2 all-time when playing Marquette with both games decided by exactly three points.
Fresno State has won 10 straight games in its next game after a loss, and is 11-1 in its next game after a loss since the start of the 2014-15 season.

Player Notes

Terrell Carter II (21 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists)
Scored a career-high 21 points and also had a career-high in field goals made (10) and field goal attempts (14) … also had a 2-to-0 assist-to-turnover ratio with two assists and no turnovers.

Jahmel Taylor (16 points, 4-for-4 3FGA, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist)
Posted his ninth career game with at least 10 points, with six of those coming this season … went 4-for-4 beyond the 3-point arc, which improved his season 3-point field goal percentage to 56.5 percent (26-for-46).

Up Next: Fresno State returns to the Save Mart Center for its final two non-conference home games with a two-game homestand, which starts Saturday at 4 p.m. PT versus Cal Poly. It's the "Battle of the Valley" and Junior Bulldog Kids Day, with youth tickets available for $5 with the purchase of an adult ticket at the Save Mart Center Box Office.