Fresno State seems to be enigma entering UNLV game

Even in a down basketball season for the Mountain West, Fresno State's 65-53 loss Wednesday night at San Jose State was shocking.

The Spartans were most teams' sure victory, and Fresno State rolled into that game in the upper half of the conference's standings.

But the Bulldogs made just 34.4 percent of their shots in falling to 14-8 (5-4 in the league), and they made just eight of 18 free throws. Their 53 points scored were a season low.

Fresno State was without forward Torren Jones, who was suspended for the game for breaking team rules. Jones, who is third in the conference with 7.9 rebounds per game, will be back Saturday when UNLV visits the Bulldogs at 4 p.m.

"Missing Jones for the game obviously changes it a little bit up front," UNLV interim coach Todd Simon said Thursday. "San Jose's been competitive this year … and they kind of grind you out a little bit, and (Fresno State) got caught in that mix a little bit."

San Jose State (8-15, 3-8) won consecutive conference games for the first time since 2011.

UNLV knows it can't sleep on Fresno State, no matter how bad the loss was to the Spartans.

The Rebels (13-10, 4-6) have their own issues, having lost three of four games, and they are without standout reserve forward Ben Carter for the rest of the season. Carter underwent surgery on his left knee on Thursday.

Plus, UNLV is far from stellar away from home, going 2-6 in true road games.

And then there is Fresno State itself. UNLV opened conference play with a 69-66 home loss to the Bulldogs on Dec. 30.

"You take some of the stuff that worked and know that they are going to have adjustments as well," Simon said. "We're a little bit of a different team the second time around than we were even the first time around without Ben because our style changes dramatically in terms of our four-guards stuff, our spread stuff. We'll get small in a hurry."

Going small against the Bulldogs could be a challenge. Fresno State is third in the Mountain West in scoring defense, allowing 68.6 points per game, and third in rebounding margin at an average of plus-4.7.

Marvelle Harris leads the Bulldogs with 18.6 points per game, but he was held to seven points by San Jose State on 2-of-16 shooting. He also missed all six 3-point attempts and went 0-for-4 overall over the final 7:26.

"They did a pretty good job corralling him," Simon said. "That's something we've got to do a better job. It's difficult to have one man take him out of his game."

* NWAMU MOURNS — Ike Nwamu's former teammate at Mercer, Jibri Bryan, was fatally shot in his car Tuesday in Macon, Georgia. Nwamu tweeted a photo of them in Mercer uniforms with the words "Rest in paradise bro #34."

"It's just a tragic situation," Simon said. "As much as they're players on the floor to people in the stands and on TV, these are real people with real-life issues. He's dealing with it the best he can.

"There's no script on grief. He's battling, though. That certainly affected him."

— Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65