Fresno State Athletics
Saturday, December 16
Fresno, Calif.
3 p.m. PT
Fresno State
9-3
61
vs
68
Oregon
9-3
1
2
F
Oregon
28
40
68
Fresno State
38
23
61
Photo by: Keith Kountz
’Dogs fall to Oregon, 68-61
12/16/2017 6:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Fresno State struggled to fend off Oregon’s second-half surge as the Bulldogs lost at home for the first time since February.
FRESNO, Calif. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team suffered a 68-61 loss to the Oregon Ducks on Saturday afternoon in front of a season-high 9,224 announced fans at the Save Mart Center.
The loss snapped Fresno State's seven-game winning streak and marked the fourth-win in a row for Oregon, who was national semifinalist at last year's Final Four.
Fresno State (9-3) will play one final nonconference game on Monday against CSU Monterey Bay before opening Mountain West play at home against defending conference champion Nevada on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. PT.
How it happened: It was a tale of two halves as the Bulldogs delivered a strong first-half effort before struggling to counter Oregon's second-half surge.
Fresno State, who was without injured All-MW honoree Jaron Hopkins for a third straight game, built a 38-28 lead over Oregon at halftime, which the Bulldogs extended to 40-28 before the Ducks went on the hunt.
The Ducks turned a 12-point deficit into a 12-point lead over a 16-minute stretch as the Bulldogs were made just one field goal in the final 12 minutes of the contest.
Fresno State shot a season-low 36.0 percent (18-for-50) from the field while making just 24.0 percent (6-for-25) of its shots in the second half.
For the Bulldogs, guards Jahmel Taylor and Deshon Taylor each had a team-best 19 points. Jahmel Taylor made five 3-pointers, including a perfect 3-for-3 clip in the first half.
Oregon was led by graduate transfer Elijah Brown, who had a game-high 20 points, and also got a double-double from freshman Kenny Wooten (13 points/10 rebounds).
Player Notes
Jahmel Taylor – 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
The senior guard scored a season-high 19 points … scored in double figures for the ninth time this season (32nd time in his career) … scored five or more three-pointers in a game for the third time this season … was 4-for-4 from the free throw line … made a season-high four free throws … was second-best on the team in rebounds with six … played a team-high and season-high 38 minutes.
Deshon Taylor – 19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
The junior guard scored in double figures for the 11th time this season (26th time in his career) … led the team with 19 points … was 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
Team Notes
Quotes:
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
On his team possibly appearing tired during the 11 minute FG drought during the second half…
"We are in really good shape. We said to our guys that fatigue is not going to be a problem in terms of the physical and mental aspect of it. We just finished finals this week so we have no school to worry about right now. Those guys can go out and play tomorrow if they had to. At the end of the day, it comes down to executing. When you don't execute on offense, you have got to go back down and get a stop. You have to sit down and have a meaningful possession down on the other end where you stop those guys from scoring. They hurt us on the glass tonight. We didn't do a great job at boxing out and we gave them too many second chance points."
On the Bulldogs' gameplan against the Ducks…
"We always want to go in and be aggressive in the paint. At the end of the day, when we have a shot blocker in there that we knew we would be facing, you have to make a two-foot play either for yourself or for your teammate. We didn't do a good job of finishing plays tonight."
On not winning in front of the season's largest crowd...
"Right now, it is about us focusing on getting better throughout the course of this season. It is a long season. We never try to dictate our play based on what kind of crowd we have. We have to come out, execute and control what we can control in the lines. Obviously we would have been excited to execute and end the game the right way to finish out the game. We are disappointed in the way we played in terms of finishing the ball game. Right now, it is not about who we are playing, it is about us trying to continue to grow as a team and try to get where we want to get to."
On getting the ball inside…
"We gave our big guys a lot of opportunities. We weren't meeting passes or finishing our plays around the basket – we have got to be better. We felt like we had an advantage inside if we were physical tonight. It was going to open things up for our perimeter players for some open looks in the perimeter. We are an inside-out team; we are not going to play outside-in. We have to learn from this and get better."
On the turnovers…
"We knew going into this game that they are a big, hard playing team in the passing lane. We did a nice job in the first half; snapping passes, meeting passes and executing what we were trying to get done. We knew we couldn't come out in the second half and make lazy passes and not come out and do what we were trying to do. We had some really tough turnovers, and some that led to points. We said going into this game that we could not have turnovers that led to points for us on the other end. It really deflates things in terms of what we are trying to get done on both ends of the floor. Then, we started letting our offense effect out guarding on the other end of the floor. We didn't guard as hard as we needed to in order to get stops. We knew coming in that we needed to be fundamentally sound with the ball and take care of the basketball. We did that in the first half but not in the second half. You cannot turn the ball over for points."
Up Next: Fresno State will next host CSU Monterey Bay on Monday night at 7 p.m. PT inside the Save Mart Center. Tickets start at $10 through www.Ticketmaster.com and the Save Mart Center Box Office.
A limited number of single-game center section lower bowl tickets (Sections 109, 110, 122 and 123) are also available for $40.
"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.
The loss snapped Fresno State's seven-game winning streak and marked the fourth-win in a row for Oregon, who was national semifinalist at last year's Final Four.
Fresno State (9-3) will play one final nonconference game on Monday against CSU Monterey Bay before opening Mountain West play at home against defending conference champion Nevada on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. PT.
How it happened: It was a tale of two halves as the Bulldogs delivered a strong first-half effort before struggling to counter Oregon's second-half surge.
Fresno State, who was without injured All-MW honoree Jaron Hopkins for a third straight game, built a 38-28 lead over Oregon at halftime, which the Bulldogs extended to 40-28 before the Ducks went on the hunt.
The Ducks turned a 12-point deficit into a 12-point lead over a 16-minute stretch as the Bulldogs were made just one field goal in the final 12 minutes of the contest.
Fresno State shot a season-low 36.0 percent (18-for-50) from the field while making just 24.0 percent (6-for-25) of its shots in the second half.
For the Bulldogs, guards Jahmel Taylor and Deshon Taylor each had a team-best 19 points. Jahmel Taylor made five 3-pointers, including a perfect 3-for-3 clip in the first half.
Oregon was led by graduate transfer Elijah Brown, who had a game-high 20 points, and also got a double-double from freshman Kenny Wooten (13 points/10 rebounds).
Player Notes
Jahmel Taylor – 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
The senior guard scored a season-high 19 points … scored in double figures for the ninth time this season (32nd time in his career) … scored five or more three-pointers in a game for the third time this season … was 4-for-4 from the free throw line … made a season-high four free throws … was second-best on the team in rebounds with six … played a team-high and season-high 38 minutes.
Deshon Taylor – 19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
The junior guard scored in double figures for the 11th time this season (26th time in his career) … led the team with 19 points … was 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
Team Notes
- Fresno State held Oregon to 29.4 field goal percentage through the first 20 minutes of the game.
- Fresno State has now made nine or more 3-pointers in five games this season.
- Fresno State has logged a better assist-to-turnover ratio than its opponents nine times this season.
- Fresno State was outrebounded for only the second time this season (44-33).
- Fresno State recorded a better 3-point field goal percentage than its opponent for the seventh time this season, with a 42.9 percent 3-point conversion rate against Oregon.
Quotes:
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
On his team possibly appearing tired during the 11 minute FG drought during the second half…
"We are in really good shape. We said to our guys that fatigue is not going to be a problem in terms of the physical and mental aspect of it. We just finished finals this week so we have no school to worry about right now. Those guys can go out and play tomorrow if they had to. At the end of the day, it comes down to executing. When you don't execute on offense, you have got to go back down and get a stop. You have to sit down and have a meaningful possession down on the other end where you stop those guys from scoring. They hurt us on the glass tonight. We didn't do a great job at boxing out and we gave them too many second chance points."
On the Bulldogs' gameplan against the Ducks…
"We always want to go in and be aggressive in the paint. At the end of the day, when we have a shot blocker in there that we knew we would be facing, you have to make a two-foot play either for yourself or for your teammate. We didn't do a good job of finishing plays tonight."
On not winning in front of the season's largest crowd...
"Right now, it is about us focusing on getting better throughout the course of this season. It is a long season. We never try to dictate our play based on what kind of crowd we have. We have to come out, execute and control what we can control in the lines. Obviously we would have been excited to execute and end the game the right way to finish out the game. We are disappointed in the way we played in terms of finishing the ball game. Right now, it is not about who we are playing, it is about us trying to continue to grow as a team and try to get where we want to get to."
On getting the ball inside…
"We gave our big guys a lot of opportunities. We weren't meeting passes or finishing our plays around the basket – we have got to be better. We felt like we had an advantage inside if we were physical tonight. It was going to open things up for our perimeter players for some open looks in the perimeter. We are an inside-out team; we are not going to play outside-in. We have to learn from this and get better."
On the turnovers…
"We knew going into this game that they are a big, hard playing team in the passing lane. We did a nice job in the first half; snapping passes, meeting passes and executing what we were trying to get done. We knew we couldn't come out in the second half and make lazy passes and not come out and do what we were trying to do. We had some really tough turnovers, and some that led to points. We said going into this game that we could not have turnovers that led to points for us on the other end. It really deflates things in terms of what we are trying to get done on both ends of the floor. Then, we started letting our offense effect out guarding on the other end of the floor. We didn't guard as hard as we needed to in order to get stops. We knew coming in that we needed to be fundamentally sound with the ball and take care of the basketball. We did that in the first half but not in the second half. You cannot turn the ball over for points."
Up Next: Fresno State will next host CSU Monterey Bay on Monday night at 7 p.m. PT inside the Save Mart Center. Tickets start at $10 through www.Ticketmaster.com and the Save Mart Center Box Office.
A limited number of single-game center section lower bowl tickets (Sections 109, 110, 122 and 123) are also available for $40.
"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.
Team Stats
ORE
FS
FG%
.381
.360
3FG%
.333
.429
FT%
.700
.696
RB
44
33
TO
10
14
STL
10
9
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
5
3FGM
5
FTM
4
Pts
19
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
7
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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