{"id":114498,"date":"2025-12-31T03:44:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T03:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/114498\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T03:44:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T03:44:17","slug":"utah-state-basketball-vs-fresno-state-preview-how-to-watch-team-breakdowns-projected-starters-injuries-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/114498\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah State basketball vs Fresno State preview: How to watch, team breakdowns, projected starters, injuries | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a 10-day break following a 42-point win in its Mountain West opener<\/a>, Utah State will get back to conference play with a road trip to Fresno State. This is a game that, on paper, the Aggies are supposed to win by double digits. However, games against the Bulldogs have been surprisingly tricky. Last year, USU trailed Fresno State by as much as 17 points at home before rallying to win by six. Two years ago, the Bulldogs took the eventual MW champion Aggies to overtime in Fresno. This is a game where no assumptions should be made.<\/p>\n

Here’s all of the necessary info ahead of this game for the Aggies.<\/p>\n

How to watchTip-off:\u00a07 p.m. (Mountain Time)Location:\u00a0Save Mart Center (Fresno, CA)TV Broadcast:\u00a0MW Network
<\/a>Radio Broadcast:\u00a0KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM) \/ kvnutalk.com<\/a> \/ KVNU mobile app<\/p>\n

KVNU Aggie GameDay pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker:\u00a06 p.m.<\/p>\n

KVNU Aggie Call:\u00a0Immediately after Coach Calhoun’s post-game comments<\/p>\n

Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the pregame or postgame show to give your thoughts and reactions for the game.Projected Starters<\/p>\n

Utah State (10-1)<\/p>\n

G \u2013 Drake Allen (6-5, Sr.) \u2013 5.9 points | 3.1 rebounds | 5.7 assistsG \u2013 Mason Falslev (6-4, Jr.) \u2013 15.3 points | 5.7 rebounds | 2.6 assistsG \u2013 MJ Collins (6-4, Sr.) \u2013 20.6 points | 2.5 rebounds | 2.0 assistsF \u2013 Adlan Elamin (6-9, Fr.) \u2013 3.4 points | 1.1 rebounds | 0.4 assistsF \u2013 Zach Keller (6-10, Sr.) \u2013 2.2 points | 1.4 rebounds | 0.1 assists<\/p>\n

Fresno State\u00a0(6-6)<\/p>\n

G \u2013 Zaon Collins (6-1, Jr.) \u2013 14.8 points | 3.8 rebounds | 5.3 assistsG \u2013 Jake Heidbreder (6-5, Sr.) \u2013 18.3 points | 2.9 rebounds | 2.8 assistsG \u2013 Cameron Faas\u00a0(6-6, Sr.) \u2013 6.0 points | 2.6 rebounds | 0.3 assistsF \u2013 DeShawn Gory (6-6, Fr.) \u2013 9.6 points | 2.9 rebounds | 1.0 assistsC \u2013 Wilson Jacques (7-0, Fr.) \u2013 7.8 points | 7.7 rebounds | 1.2 assists<\/p>\n

Utah State and Fresno State Team Stat Ranks Preview<\/p>\n

Stats and efficiency ratings via KenPom.com, all rankings are out of 365 teams.<\/p>\n

Stat<\/p>\n

Utah State<\/p>\n

Fresno State<\/p>\n

NET Rank<\/p>\n

19<\/p>\n

167<\/p>\n

Pace Rank<\/p>\n

107th<\/p>\n

182nd<\/p>\n

Offensive Efficiency<\/p>\n

120.2 (37th)<\/p>\n

107.2 (188th)<\/p>\n

Defensive Efficiency<\/p>\n

99.5 (32nd)<\/p>\n

108.4 (157th)<\/p>\n

3-Point %<\/p>\n

36.4 (67th)<\/p>\n

32.0 (240th)<\/p>\n

3-Point Attempt Rate<\/p>\n

.364 (248th)<\/p>\n

.421 (133rd)<\/p>\n

Offensive Rebounding %<\/p>\n

37.6 (33rd)<\/p>\n

30.6 (185th)<\/p>\n

Defensive Rebounding %<\/p>\n

69.3 (166th)<\/p>\n

69.9 (151st)<\/p>\n

Turnover %<\/p>\n

17.3 (172nd)<\/p>\n

19.1 (276th)<\/p>\n

Opponent Turnover %<\/p>\n

23.5 (7th)<\/p>\n

20.7 (37th)<\/p>\n

Availability Report<\/p>\n

The following is drawn from the official availability reports posted by the Mountain West<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UTAH STATE<\/p>\n

FRESNO STATE<\/p>\n

Neither team will be impacted by injuries, at least in any way different than the rest of the season. Bulldogs 21-year old freshman Nathan Zulemie, a promising guard from France, has missed the entire season thus far and will be out in this game as well. The Aggies have no players expected to miss time due to injury.<\/p>\n

Utah State Keys to VictoryProtect the Ball<\/p>\n

While Utah State prides itself on turning opponents over, Fresno State can say the same thing, and are nearly as good as the Aggies in that regard. USU ranks seventh in Division I in opponent turnover possession and Fresno State ranks 37th, with both teams forcing foes into turnovers in more than 20% of possessions. And both teams will likely be susceptible to the pressure defense as Utah State is a mediocre 172nd in its own turnover percentage and Fresno State is a rather poor 276th. This game could descend into chaos with strings of turnovers from either side.<\/p>\n

Limit Heidbreder<\/p>\n

While Fresno State boasts a solid two-man star guard duo with Jake Heidbreder\u00a0and Zaon Collins, it’s the former who’s best games have gone on to result in wins for the Bulldogs.\u00a0In wins, Heidbreder is averaging an even 22.0 points (on 60.6% shooting), including scoring bursts of 33 against New Orleans and 27 against Pepperdine, and in losses Heidbreder has averaged just 14.7 points on 33.3% shooting. Collins has been much more balanced across wins and losses, averaging 15.0 points in FSU victories and 14.5 in defeats. Though, much like Heidbreder, Collins’ shooting efficiency drops off heavily in losses compared to wins.<\/p>\n

Computer Prediction ScoresKenPom \u2014\u00a0Utah State win 83-70Haslametrics \u2014\u00a0Utah State win 79-66EvanMiya \u2014\u00a0Utah State win 81-71<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a 10-day break following a 42-point win in its Mountain West opener, Utah State will get back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[61253,61248,112,114,113,44134,3257,61258,61257,61250,61255,61249,61251,44135,61254,61246,61247,61252,61259,61256],"class_list":["post-114498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-adlan-elamin","tag-drake-allen","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-fresno-state-basketball","tag-fresno-state-bulldogs","tag-fresno-state-injury-report","tag-garry-clark","tag-jerrod-calhoun","tag-karson-templin","tag-mason-falslev","tag-mj-collins","tag-mountain-west-basketball","tag-tucker-anderson","tag-usu-basketball","tag-utah-state-basketball","tag-utah-state-injury-report","tag-utah-state-vs-fresno-state","tag-zach-keller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}