Fresno State Athletics
Tuesday, November 6
Fresno, Calif.
7 p.m. PT
Fresno State
vs
Alaska-Anchorage
Photo by: Jamie Schwaberow/Clarkson Creative
’Dogs open Hutson Era on Tuesday night
11/5/2018 7:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Tickets to the game start at $10. Season tickets are also available starting at $149 and 6-game mini-plans start as low as $78.
Game 1: Alaska-Anchorage at Fresno State
Nov. 6, 2018 • 7 p.m. PT • Fresno, Calif. (Save Mart Center)
Online: Mountain West Network (Paul Loeffler/Marc Q. Jones)
Radio: 940 AM ESPN Radio (Paul Loeffler/Marc Q. Jones) & 1600 AM ESPN Deportes (Jesse Beltran/Octavio Duarte)
Series History: Fresno State leads all-time series 2-0 (1-0 in home games played in Fresno, Calif.)
Last Meeting: Fresno State 82, Alaska-Anchorage 79 (11/26/98 • Anchorage, Alaska)
Next Up: at TCU (Nov. 15); vs. Northwestern (Nov. 22 - Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, Calif.)
Opening Tip
Fresno State is one of three Mountain West teams to have finished .500 or better in league play in each of the past five seasons, including this season. Fresno State, Boise State and San Diego State have won at least nine conference games in each of the last five seasons. Fresno State has averaged 10.8 conference wins per season (last five seasons), with at least 10 MW wins for four straight seasons, including a 13-5 mark in 2015-16.
'Dogs open Hutson Era on Tuesday night
With new head coach Justin Hutson excited to make his official debut on the Bulldog sidelines, the Fresno State men's basketball team will open the 2018-19 regular season on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. PT when the 'Dogs host Alaska-Anchorage inside the Save Mart Center. New this season, DJ Kay Rich will be playing before and during all home games, and Kimberly Marquez will be Fresno State's gameday host. Hundreds of red "Hut's House" t-shirts, Harlem Globetrotters and Copa Combate tickets, and Me-n-Eds pizza will be given away to fans throughout the game. A free public wireless network was installed in the Save Mart Center during the offseason. Tickets to the game start at $10. Season tickets are also available starting at $149 and 6-game mini-plans start as low as $78.
NCAA moves up the start of the season to Nov. 6
This will be the earliest start to a season in program history as the NCAA moved up the first allowable date for competition to allow for more flexibility in non-conference scheduling, according to Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior Vice President in charge of basketball. Previously, the earliest Fresno State had opened a season was Nov. 8 in 2013 when the Bulldogs won 98-97 at UC Irvine in an overtime thriller, which ended when Allen Huddleston drained a 40-foot buzzer beater as time expired. It was the fifth lead change in the final minute of overtime and earned Huddleston a live phone interview on ESPN's Sportscenter.
About the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
The Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves, a respected Division II program and past host of the Great Alaska Shootout, is 2-0 after opening the season with a pair of wins over Antelope Valley on Nov. 2 (73-65) and Nov. 3 (82-73). The Bulldogs are 2-0 all-time against the Seawolves. Fresno State beat Alaska-Anchorage 71-45 at home inside Selland Areana on Jan. 2, 1982 - a season that ended with Fresno State reaching the Sweet Sixteen before falling to Georgetown in the NCAA West Regional in Utah. The 'Dogs also beat the Seawolves 82-79 in the opening game of the 1998 Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 26 during Jerry Tarkanian's time as head coach.
Deshon Taylor returns for senior season
After testing the NBA Draft waters this spring, Deshon Taylor decided to return to Fresno State for his senior season and now is a prime position as an experienced guard poised to once again lead the Bulldogs on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. Last season, Taylor earned first-team All-Mountain West and All-Defense Team honors from the MW's head coaches, first-team All-MW honors from the MW Wire staff and second-team All-MW honors from a select MW media panel of newspaper beat reporters. Taylor finished the 2017-18 season averaging 17.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. During the Bulldogs' campaign a year ago, Taylor set a new single-season program record 200 free throws and he was one of 11 players in the nation with at least 200 free throws made during the 2017-18 season. Taylor ranked fifth in the MW with an 83.3 free throw percentage (200-for-240).
Bittner named CoSIDA Academic All-District 8
Fresno State senior guard/forward Sam Bittner was named a 2017-18 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District 8 honoree. Bittner is also a three-time Mountain West scholar athlete and a three-time Academic All-MW selection. Bittner (business administration major, 3.95 GPA) is the second Bulldog ever to be honored as a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection – joining three-time Academic All-District honoree Nedeljko Golubovic, who was recognized from 2009-11. Last season, he ranked 11th in the nation in 3-point shooting (39-for-81, 48.1 percent) for players with at least one made 3-pointer per team game. He also made more field goals and 3-pointers in his junior season than he did in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined. On defense, Bittner can guard all five positions on the floor, while offensively, he has become an efficient 3-point shooter. Fresno State is 29-11 in Bittner's 40 career starts.
Hutson returns home to the Valley, hires staff
Justin Hutson, one of the West's best recruiters and a veteran of the Mountain West, was named Fresno State's 19th head men's basketball coach on April 5, 2018. Hutson, a native of Bakersfield, Calif., takes over a Fresno State program that has become a consistent MW contender in recent years with former Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry largely modeling his program on what Hutson, along with Steve Fisher and Brian Dutcher, had built at San Diego State. Hutson returns to the Valley after serving most recently as a Division I associate head coach or assistant coach for 10 seasons at San Diego State (2006-11, '13-18) and two seasons at UNLV (2011-13). For his staff at Fresno State, Hutson has hired Keith Brown, Tarvish Felton and Tim Shelton as assistant coaches and Marvin Adams as his director of basketball operations, Titus Shelton as his director of player development and Nate Leal as a special assistant.
Surpassing Preseason Expectations
Nov. 6, 2018 • 7 p.m. PT • Fresno, Calif. (Save Mart Center)
Online: Mountain West Network (Paul Loeffler/Marc Q. Jones)
Radio: 940 AM ESPN Radio (Paul Loeffler/Marc Q. Jones) & 1600 AM ESPN Deportes (Jesse Beltran/Octavio Duarte)
Series History: Fresno State leads all-time series 2-0 (1-0 in home games played in Fresno, Calif.)
Last Meeting: Fresno State 82, Alaska-Anchorage 79 (11/26/98 • Anchorage, Alaska)
Next Up: at TCU (Nov. 15); vs. Northwestern (Nov. 22 - Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, Calif.)
Opening Tip
- New Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson is back home in the Valley. Hutson, a Bakersfield native, spent the last 12 seasons (San Diego State and UNLV) as one of the most respected assistant coaches in country.
- Fresno State has won at least 20 games in each of the past three seasons (four of the past five seasons).
- Last season, Fresno State (21-11, 11-7 MW) finished fourth in the MW standings and earned its third straight Top 4 seed for the MW Tournament.
- Fresno State is one of two MW teams (Boise State) to have earned a first round bye in each of the past four seasons.
- Fresno State senior guard Deshon Taylor started his college basketball career at UMKC before transferring to Fresno State as a walk-on for two seasons (2015-17) and earned a scholarship starting in 2017. Sam Bittner is also a former walk-on, who has since become a scholarship player.
- Fresno State's 2018-19 roster includes two Division I transfers who redshirted last season: Braxton Huggins (New Mexico State) and Noah Blackwell (Long Beach State). Deshon Taylor (UMKC) and New Williams (Auburn) are also D-1 transfers, as is Chris Seeley (Utah - redshirting).
- Tuesday night's game will count as an exhibition for Alaska-Anchorage, but it will count as a regular season contest for Fresno State.
- Fresno State has won 17 straight home openers, including all 14 at the Save Mart Center (Last Loss: 11/17/00; vs. Saint Mary's, 104-66)
- Fresno State is 76-19 all-time in home openers.
- Fresno State is 70-25 all-time in season openers.
- Fresno State has won 26 straight games against non-Division I opponents
- Deshon Taylor enters the season with 980 career points at Fresno State.
Fresno State is one of three Mountain West teams to have finished .500 or better in league play in each of the past five seasons, including this season. Fresno State, Boise State and San Diego State have won at least nine conference games in each of the last five seasons. Fresno State has averaged 10.8 conference wins per season (last five seasons), with at least 10 MW wins for four straight seasons, including a 13-5 mark in 2015-16.
'Dogs open Hutson Era on Tuesday night
With new head coach Justin Hutson excited to make his official debut on the Bulldog sidelines, the Fresno State men's basketball team will open the 2018-19 regular season on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. PT when the 'Dogs host Alaska-Anchorage inside the Save Mart Center. New this season, DJ Kay Rich will be playing before and during all home games, and Kimberly Marquez will be Fresno State's gameday host. Hundreds of red "Hut's House" t-shirts, Harlem Globetrotters and Copa Combate tickets, and Me-n-Eds pizza will be given away to fans throughout the game. A free public wireless network was installed in the Save Mart Center during the offseason. Tickets to the game start at $10. Season tickets are also available starting at $149 and 6-game mini-plans start as low as $78.
NCAA moves up the start of the season to Nov. 6
This will be the earliest start to a season in program history as the NCAA moved up the first allowable date for competition to allow for more flexibility in non-conference scheduling, according to Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior Vice President in charge of basketball. Previously, the earliest Fresno State had opened a season was Nov. 8 in 2013 when the Bulldogs won 98-97 at UC Irvine in an overtime thriller, which ended when Allen Huddleston drained a 40-foot buzzer beater as time expired. It was the fifth lead change in the final minute of overtime and earned Huddleston a live phone interview on ESPN's Sportscenter.
About the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
The Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves, a respected Division II program and past host of the Great Alaska Shootout, is 2-0 after opening the season with a pair of wins over Antelope Valley on Nov. 2 (73-65) and Nov. 3 (82-73). The Bulldogs are 2-0 all-time against the Seawolves. Fresno State beat Alaska-Anchorage 71-45 at home inside Selland Areana on Jan. 2, 1982 - a season that ended with Fresno State reaching the Sweet Sixteen before falling to Georgetown in the NCAA West Regional in Utah. The 'Dogs also beat the Seawolves 82-79 in the opening game of the 1998 Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 26 during Jerry Tarkanian's time as head coach.
Deshon Taylor returns for senior season
After testing the NBA Draft waters this spring, Deshon Taylor decided to return to Fresno State for his senior season and now is a prime position as an experienced guard poised to once again lead the Bulldogs on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. Last season, Taylor earned first-team All-Mountain West and All-Defense Team honors from the MW's head coaches, first-team All-MW honors from the MW Wire staff and second-team All-MW honors from a select MW media panel of newspaper beat reporters. Taylor finished the 2017-18 season averaging 17.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. During the Bulldogs' campaign a year ago, Taylor set a new single-season program record 200 free throws and he was one of 11 players in the nation with at least 200 free throws made during the 2017-18 season. Taylor ranked fifth in the MW with an 83.3 free throw percentage (200-for-240).
Bittner named CoSIDA Academic All-District 8
Fresno State senior guard/forward Sam Bittner was named a 2017-18 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District 8 honoree. Bittner is also a three-time Mountain West scholar athlete and a three-time Academic All-MW selection. Bittner (business administration major, 3.95 GPA) is the second Bulldog ever to be honored as a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection – joining three-time Academic All-District honoree Nedeljko Golubovic, who was recognized from 2009-11. Last season, he ranked 11th in the nation in 3-point shooting (39-for-81, 48.1 percent) for players with at least one made 3-pointer per team game. He also made more field goals and 3-pointers in his junior season than he did in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined. On defense, Bittner can guard all five positions on the floor, while offensively, he has become an efficient 3-point shooter. Fresno State is 29-11 in Bittner's 40 career starts.
Hutson returns home to the Valley, hires staff
Justin Hutson, one of the West's best recruiters and a veteran of the Mountain West, was named Fresno State's 19th head men's basketball coach on April 5, 2018. Hutson, a native of Bakersfield, Calif., takes over a Fresno State program that has become a consistent MW contender in recent years with former Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry largely modeling his program on what Hutson, along with Steve Fisher and Brian Dutcher, had built at San Diego State. Hutson returns to the Valley after serving most recently as a Division I associate head coach or assistant coach for 10 seasons at San Diego State (2006-11, '13-18) and two seasons at UNLV (2011-13). For his staff at Fresno State, Hutson has hired Keith Brown, Tarvish Felton and Tim Shelton as assistant coaches and Marvin Adams as his director of basketball operations, Titus Shelton as his director of player development and Nate Leal as a special assistant.
Surpassing Preseason Expectations
- This season, Fresno State was picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West by the league's media in a preseason poll released in mid-October.
- Before the 2015-16 season, Fresno State was picked to finish fifth in a preseason poll. The Bulldogs went on to win the 2016 MW Championship and earn the MW's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's BasketballReturn to Selland: Press Conference
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Tuesday, December 17
MBB Media Availability [12/3]
Tuesday, December 03
MBB: Highlight vs. Prairie View A&M [11/20/24]
Thursday, November 21