Bulldogs again will lean on defense, 3-pointers
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in an 11-part series previewing UNM men’s basketball opponents for the coming season. The series includes articles and capsules on all Mountain West opponents published in the reverse order of the league’s preseason poll and concludes with capsules for each nonconference opponent.
There wasn’t a better 3-point shooting team in the Mountain West Conference a season ago than the Fresno State Bulldogs.
They took the most 3s in the Mountain West and hitting them at a clip of 38.1 percent (No. 24 in the nation out of 351 Division I teams), the Bulldogs scored 42 percent of their points from beyond the arc (10th in DI).
But that was when guards Braxton Huggins (101 made 3-pointers) and Deshon Taylor (67 made 3s) were leading the charge. Now, second-year head coach Justin Hutson says he won’t back off from utilizing last season’s weapon of choice, but the approach could change.
Hutson, the longtime San Diego State assistant who took over a strong Bulldogs job vacated by Rodney Terry a season ago, said the Bulldogs, picked to finish sixth in the preseason MWC media poll, will now need more balance on the perimeters and also likely get more 3s from drive and kicks or working inside out through potential all-league forward Nate Grimes.
“These two guys sitting next to me can really shoot it,” Hutson said earlier this month of Grimes and guard New Williams, two seniors who accompanied him to the Mountain West preseason media summit.
“Nate worked really hard this summer on his 3-point shot. He made a handful last year and I expect him to make more this year. New can really shoot it. He came off the bench (last season) and I think he found a hard time trying to find a rhythm. This year, he’ll be in a lot more so hopefully he’ll find a rhythm.
We still want to make a lot of 3s. It might be different this year how we do it, but we still want to shoot them with confidence.”
Fresno State will also look to repeat as one of the better defensive teams in the league. Hutson’s bunch played an aggressive, effective brand of defense (it led the MWC in foul rate and was third in defensive efficiency).
Hutson, who won the 2018-19 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year as DI basketball’s top firstyear head coach, made his name coordinating some of the top SDSU defenses of the past decade.
In Grimes, the Bulldogs’ front court has a solid defender and potential elite rebounder (he averaged 1.7 blocks and 9.2 rebounds per game a season ago).
Williams (8.2 ppg, 54 made 3s) and Noah Blackell (8.5 ppg, 3.6 assists per game) are also back for Fresno State while freshmen like 7-foot-2 center Assane Diouf and 6-10 Orlando Robinson could be long-term building blocks.
“He brings size and versatility,” Hutson said of Robinson. “He brings what people call nowadays positionless basketball. He can handle it. He can shoot it. He can pass it. He can play inside. He can play outside.”
HE SAID IT: “A text here or there, but it’s hard to get in touch with him. Heck, it was hard to get in touch with him when he was at San Diego State and I was there. You would see him at practice and that was about it.” — Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson, who recruited Kawhi Leonard to San Diego State a decade ago, on keeping in touch with the NBA superstar who is now back in California playing for the LA Clippers.