Game 30: Chicago State (11-19) at Fresno State (10-19)
March 4, 2023 • 4:06 p.m. PT • Fresno, Calif. • Save Mart Center
TV/ONLINE: CW59/Mountain West Network (Ralph Wood & Jack Fertig)
RADIO: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler & Marc Q. Jones)
SERIES HISTORY: Second Meeting (Result of First Meeting vacated) • Series: 0-0
LAST MEETING: Fresno State* 94, Chicago State 71 (12/22/98 • Selland Arena) -- Result later vacated due to the use of an ineligible student-athlete
UP NEXT: MW First Round (March 8)
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.
Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson is in his fifth season back home in the Central Valley.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 23-win campaign in 2021-22 and a postseason title after winning The Basketball Classic, presented by ERACISM, in April - two 23-win seasons (2018-19 and 2021-22).
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) along with forward Isaih Moore (Southern Miss) and centers Chuks Isitua (IUPUI) and Eduardo Andre (Nebraska).
Fresno State guard Isaiah Hill leads the Bulldogs in scoring with an average of 12.2 points per game.
OPENING TIP
Fresno State hosts the Chicago State Cougars on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT at the Save Mart Center.
The game will be broadcast on the CW59/MWN (television/web) and the Bulldog Sports Network (radio).
Fresno State is third in the MW in scoring defense (65.41 points allowed per game) for the 2022-23 season.
Fresno State enters the game in eighth in the MW standings (FS: head-to-head tiebreaker with UNLV).
Isaiah Hill has moved into the Top 50 on the program's all-time scoring list and is the 47th player to score at least 900 points as a Bulldog (927 career points in three seasons at Fresno State).
SEASON NOTABLES
Fresno State's first six Division I nonconference opponents were all Top 125 KenPom teams.
Fresno State earned its first win over an Associated Press Top 25 opponent since 2002 when the Bulldogs handed then-No. 21/22 New Mexico 71-67 its first loss of the season on Jan. 3 at the Save Mart Center.
Fresno State is now 9-2 against UNM in Hutson's five seasons coaching the Bulldogs.
Fresno State completed its first regular season sweep of UNLV since 2018 by securing two victories over the Runnin' Rebels in a 14-day span. Fresno State is now 5-4 against UNLV in Hutson's five seasons.
Four of Fresno State's 10 wins have come in true road games (three in conference play).
Fresno State enters having made 76.2 percent of its free throws (298-391), which currently would eclipse the school record for single-season free throw percentage (74.2 percent, 484-652, 1991-92).
Through the first 29 games of the season, Fresno State has had 11 of its 13 scholarship players miss at least one game for a non-coaches decision and have combined to miss 98 games throughout the 2022-23 season.
Fresno State leads Northern and Central California in attendance during the 2022-23 season (5,056/game), which ranks third in the state of California behind San Diego State and UCLA.
Through games played on March 2, all 11 Mountain West programs were rated in the Top 115 nationally in KenPom's strength of schedule. SDSU led the MW at 29th nationally, while Fresno State was third (53rd).
SERIES HISTORY: FRESNO STATE VS. CHICAGO STATE
The official series record between Fresno State and Chicago is 0-0, but this is the second time that the two teams will have met. Fresno State defeated Chicago State 94-71 in the 1998 Coors Light Classic at Selland Arena on Dec. 22, 1998, but the victory was later vacated due to the use of an ineligible student-athlete.
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 its 11 MW campaigns, Fresno State has won 102 conference games (9.3 MW wins per season) – twice going 13-5 against MW opponents, including Hutson's first season at Fresno State during the 2018-19 season. In Hutson's tenure, Fresno State has won 43 MW games (8.6 per season).
FRESNO STATE'S SEEDING SCENARIOS FOR MW CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fresno State will be either the No. 7, No. 8 or No. 9 seed for the 2023 Mountain West Men's Basketball Championships, which will be played in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center from March 8-11, 2023.
The Bulldogs will open play on March 8 in a first-round contest at either 11 a.m. PT or 1:30 p.m. PT on the Mountain West Network (web/stream) and the Bulldog Sports Network (radio).
With Fresno State's MW regular season slate complete, the Bulldogs are waiting on the results of Friday and Saturdays contests to learn its seeding for the single-elimination tournament - particularly Friday's New Mexico at Colorado State game and Saturday's San Jose State at Air Force, UNLV at Nevada and Wyoming at San Diego State games.