Fresno State Athletics
Saturday, February 8
Las Vegas, NV
5:00 PM PT
Fresno State
8-16,4-9Mountain West
67
at
68
UNLV
12-13,7-5Mountain West
1
2
F
Fresno St.
23
44
67
UNLV
22
46
68
Photo by: Keith Kountz
’Dogs edged in final second at UNLV
2/8/2020 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Fresno State freshman forward Orlando Robinson scored a game-high 24 points, but the Bulldogs were on the wrong side of a final second game-winner to come up just short at UNLV.
LAS VEGAS – The Fresno State men's basketball team suffered a 68-67 road loss to the UNLV Runnin' Rebels on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Fresno State (8-16, 4-9 Mountain West) battled UNLV (12-13, 7-5 MW) all night, but the Bulldogs were on the wrong side of a last second heroic banked-in shot by Marvin Coleman of the Runnin' Rebels.
Fresno State freshman forward Orlando Robinson scored a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds and two assists for his fifth game this season with at least 20 points. Paul George is the only other Bulldog freshman with more in the last 15 seasons, as George had six 20-point games during the 2008-09 season.
Noah Blackwell and Niven Hart each added 15 points for the Bulldogs, who will next play at San Jose State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT.
How it happened: Fresno State jumped out to an early 21-9 lead over UNLV, but the Runnin' Rebels answered with a 13-0 run to get back in the game.
In the second half, neither team led by more than four points, and the Bulldogs had a 67-64 lead over UNLV in the final minute after Blackwell made his fourth 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play.
Amauri Hardy made a lay-up for the Runnin' Rebels on the ensuing possession, and New Williams missed a 3-pointer with 17 seconds to go before Coleman's heroics.
With 0.8 seconds on the clock, Fresno State got one last chance and drew up a play, which had Anthony Holland inbounding the ball.
Holland, who could run the baseline, went to his left, and then to his right while being defended by Mbacke Diong, who then made contact with Williams. Holland then found Hart for a final long look, which came up short and to the left.
Fresno State converted 55.6 percent (15-for-27) of its field goal attempts in the second half, and the Bulldogs' defense limited UNLV to just 39.7 percent from the field for the game.
Quotes:
Justin Hutson, Fresno State head coach
On the final play…
"We saw (UNLV) put Mbacke on the ball. They knew we were going to throw long, so they put him on the ball. Anthony Holland was supposed to run left, come back right and as Mbacke was chasing him, New Wiilliams is going to step in front of him and take a charge. Oldest play in the book - got it from my father, Mark Hutson."
On the game…
"The seniors were good tonight. We had a good effort from everybody tonight. I thought everybody went out there and played. They answered the bell. To come into a place where UNLV doesn't lose too often, they had a big winning streak for a while and we were in control of the game for a while and then we answered the bell. We knew they were going to make a run. They're a good team. They made a run on us and we answered. We couldn't get the stop we needed to in the last 30 seconds."
On the Bulldogs' second-to-last offensive possession…
"We were going to play high pick and roll. They were trying to pressure. They were definitely trying to pressure, so what we were not going to do is turn the ball over. We were going to spread the floor and play high pick and roll because Noah had it going and New has been dangerous. New has made big shots. Noah moved it. It got back to Nate, Nate moved it to New. New had a good look. He could have maybe turned the corner and got in the paint, but he had a good look. If that goes in, we win. Sometimes, it's as simple as that."
On his team's performance…
"We fought tonight. They answered the call a little bit tonight. Coming into Thomas & Mack on a team that is very athletic, you're going to have to be physically and mentally ready to play. You can't come in here without high energy and being together. We want to finish off that way."
On whether he thinks the Bulldogs can win in the Mountain West tournament…
"I do. That's our whole thing. We want to win as many games as we can and be tough in the tournament and get better, try to send the seniors out in the tournament. Seeding and all that stuff is not something we're talking about. We're talking about trying to get better and be tough in the tournament, send the seniors off right, get in a rotation, everybody stay healthy. That's what we're talking about."
Team Notes
Fresno State (8-16, 4-9 Mountain West) battled UNLV (12-13, 7-5 MW) all night, but the Bulldogs were on the wrong side of a last second heroic banked-in shot by Marvin Coleman of the Runnin' Rebels.
Fresno State freshman forward Orlando Robinson scored a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds and two assists for his fifth game this season with at least 20 points. Paul George is the only other Bulldog freshman with more in the last 15 seasons, as George had six 20-point games during the 2008-09 season.
Noah Blackwell and Niven Hart each added 15 points for the Bulldogs, who will next play at San Jose State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT.
How it happened: Fresno State jumped out to an early 21-9 lead over UNLV, but the Runnin' Rebels answered with a 13-0 run to get back in the game.
In the second half, neither team led by more than four points, and the Bulldogs had a 67-64 lead over UNLV in the final minute after Blackwell made his fourth 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play.
Amauri Hardy made a lay-up for the Runnin' Rebels on the ensuing possession, and New Williams missed a 3-pointer with 17 seconds to go before Coleman's heroics.
With 0.8 seconds on the clock, Fresno State got one last chance and drew up a play, which had Anthony Holland inbounding the ball.
Holland, who could run the baseline, went to his left, and then to his right while being defended by Mbacke Diong, who then made contact with Williams. Holland then found Hart for a final long look, which came up short and to the left.
Fresno State converted 55.6 percent (15-for-27) of its field goal attempts in the second half, and the Bulldogs' defense limited UNLV to just 39.7 percent from the field for the game.
Quotes:
Justin Hutson, Fresno State head coach
On the final play…
"We saw (UNLV) put Mbacke on the ball. They knew we were going to throw long, so they put him on the ball. Anthony Holland was supposed to run left, come back right and as Mbacke was chasing him, New Wiilliams is going to step in front of him and take a charge. Oldest play in the book - got it from my father, Mark Hutson."
On the game…
"The seniors were good tonight. We had a good effort from everybody tonight. I thought everybody went out there and played. They answered the bell. To come into a place where UNLV doesn't lose too often, they had a big winning streak for a while and we were in control of the game for a while and then we answered the bell. We knew they were going to make a run. They're a good team. They made a run on us and we answered. We couldn't get the stop we needed to in the last 30 seconds."
On the Bulldogs' second-to-last offensive possession…
"We were going to play high pick and roll. They were trying to pressure. They were definitely trying to pressure, so what we were not going to do is turn the ball over. We were going to spread the floor and play high pick and roll because Noah had it going and New has been dangerous. New has made big shots. Noah moved it. It got back to Nate, Nate moved it to New. New had a good look. He could have maybe turned the corner and got in the paint, but he had a good look. If that goes in, we win. Sometimes, it's as simple as that."
On his team's performance…
"We fought tonight. They answered the call a little bit tonight. Coming into Thomas & Mack on a team that is very athletic, you're going to have to be physically and mentally ready to play. You can't come in here without high energy and being together. We want to finish off that way."
On whether he thinks the Bulldogs can win in the Mountain West tournament…
"I do. That's our whole thing. We want to win as many games as we can and be tough in the tournament and get better, try to send the seniors out in the tournament. Seeding and all that stuff is not something we're talking about. We're talking about trying to get better and be tough in the tournament, send the seniors off right, get in a rotation, everybody stay healthy. That's what we're talking about."
Team Notes
- UNLV now leads the all-time series 32-15 (overall) and 18-5 (games played in Las Vegas). Both losses this season to UNLV were by a single point.
- Justin Hutson is now 25-6 all-time as a Division I head coach (5-4) or assistant coach (20-2) when coaching against one of his former teams. Hutson was the associate head coach at UNLV for two seasons from 2011-13.
- Fresno State is now 22-6 when leading at halftime in head coach Justin Hutson's tenure.
Team Stats
Fresno
UNLV
FG%
.451
.397
3FG%
.304
.333
FT%
.737
.824
RB
32
36
TO
13
7
STL
3
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
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/ Men's Basketball
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