Fresno State will face the Washington Huskies on Thanksgiving Eve at Anaheim Arena.
Game 5: Fresno State (1-3) vs. Washington (3-1)
Nov. 23, 2022 • 6:30 p.m. PT • Anaheim, Calif. • Anaheim Arena
TV/ONLINE: ESPNU (Eric Rothman & Corey Williams)
RADIO: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler & Marc Q. Jones)
SERIES HISTORY: Fresno State leads 3-2 (overall) • First neutral site meeting
LAST MEETING: Fresno State 67, Washington 65 (12/7/93 • Fresno, Calif.)
UP NEXT: vs. Saint Mary's College or Vanderbilt (11/24/22)
THE BREAKDOWN
Fresno State entered the 2022-23 season bringing back eight returners, which includes four seniors in Jemarl Baker, Jordan Campbell, Anthony Holland and Isaiah Hill along with juniors Destin Whitaker, Donavan Yap and Leo Colimerio and sophomore Steven Vasquez.
Hill is the Bulldogs' leading returning scorer (10.1 PPG) and Holland is the top returning rebounder (6.2 RPG).
Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson is in his fifth season back home in the Central Valley and sports a 70-56 overall record, which includes two 23-win seasons (2018-19 and 2021-22).
The Bulldogs are coming off a 23-win campaign in 2021-22 and a postseason title after winning The Basketball Classic in April.
Seven new players have joined the program: guards Jordan Brinson (Salt Lake CC), Alexander Gorton (Palm Beach Atlantic), Joseph Hunter (San Joaquin Memorial HS) and Jeff Sims (Santa Rosa Academy) joining forward Isaih Moore (Southern Miss) and centers Chuks Isitua (IUPUI) and Eduardo Andre (Nebraska).
OPENING TIP
Fresno State will face the Washington Huskies on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. PT at Anaheim Arena.
The game will be broadcast on ESPNU (television) and the Bulldog Sports Network (radio).
The winners of the opening games will face off in a championship game on Thanksgiving, while the losers will also play on Nov. 24 in a third-place contest.
Fresno State, who won the 2021 Venue Twin Southern California Challenge Surf Division, is returning to Southern California during Feast Week for a multi-team event for the second straight season and third time in the last five years.
This will be Fresno State's second appearance in the Wooden Legacy -- an ESPN Event -- and first since 2018, when the 'Dogs beat Northwestern on Thanksgiving Day and finished third in an eight-team bracket.
This is the sixth all-time meeting between Fresno State and Washington, and first since 1993.
Fresno State has won the last three meetings, including a pair of two-point victories in the early 1990s.
NATIONAL RESPECT IN COMPUTER RANKINGS, PROJECTIONS
Fresno State is currently ranked No. 87 in the nation in the 2022-23 T-Rank College Basketball Projections, which accounts for roster makeup and scheduling in performance projection analytics.
The T-Rank projections feature eight Mountain West teams in the Top 100, including seven in the Top 90.
Through games played on Nov. 20, 2022, Fresno State was sixth in the MW in the T-Rank projections (San Diego State [13], Utah State [31], Boise State [66], New Mexico [68], Wyoming [84], Fresno State [84]).
Fresno State is currently ranked No. 125 in the 2023 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings.
This is the fourth game in a six-game stretch of the Bulldogs exclusively playing KenPom Top 125 teams, who also all finished in the NET Top 150 at the end of last season.
POTENTIAL THANKSGIVING DAY OPPONENTS
Fresno State trails its all-time series 20-17 with Saint Mary's College (KenPom: 20; last meeting: 2019).
Fresno State and Vanderbilt have never played in men's basketball (KenPom: 78).
The Bulldogs last played a SEC opponent back on Nov. 17, 2017 when Fresno State nearly pulled off a road upset of Arkansas (83-75).
DIALING UP THE HEAT ON D
Fresno State has limited 16 straight opponents in regular season games, including all four this season, to fewer than 70 points.
Fresno State has limited eight straight nonconference opponents in regular season games, including all four this season, to fewer than 70 points.
Fresno State has limited its opponents to fewer than 70 points in 33 of its last 39 games, including in both games this season.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE FOR THE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs will once again get national exposure in November during Feast Week by playing in the 2022 Paycom Wooden Legacy, which also features Washington, Saint Mary's College and Vanderbilt, on the ESPN Family of Networks.
This is Fresno State's second appearance in the Wooden Legacy - previously playing in the Southern California-based tournament in 2018 when it had an eight-team field with the Bulldogs earning a third-place finish with wins over Miami and Hawai'i and a close loss to Miami on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. This season's event will be played at the Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim Arena).
Last fall, Fresno State won the 2021 Venue Twin Southern California Challenge with victories over Santa Clara and Pepperdine on CBS Sports Network (CBSSN).
Fresno State will also have 10 of its MW games broadcast on either CBSSN or FS1, with the other eight on the Mountain West Network this season, including up to seven also included in a local television package on CW59/FOX26.2 via LEARFIELD.
FRESNO STATE CONTENDING IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST
Since joining the Mountain West in 2012, Fresno State has won the 2016 conference tournament championship and finished as high as second in the regular season. The Bulldogs have finished no lower than seventh in league play in its first 10 seasons in the Mountain West, which includes six first round byes in the MW Tournament. In the last seven MW campaigns, the 'Dogs won an average of 10.3 MW contests per year -- twice going 13-5 against MW opponents, including Hutson's first season at Fresno State during the 2018-19 season. Fresno State averaged nearly 10 conference victories per season (9.7) in Hutson's first four seasons as the Bulldogs' head coach.