It was very early in the Bulldogs' victory against SMU on Monday, the second possession for Fresno State in fact.
Southern Methodist had come out in its box-and-one against the Bulldogs' Kevin Olekaibe, who through two games proved that he was every bit deserving of the attention. There was a missed shot and the ball kicked out to Olekaibe on the right, the Mustangs' London Giles, the one in the box-and-one, closing in. Olekaibe gave him a little jab step and as he went up for a 3-point shot that he would knock down, Giles toppled to the ground, left completely off balance by the move.
There was a message in there for Fresno State opponents in the future. If they're going to play a box-and-one on Olekaibe - that better be a very good one.
''You can't stop him in box-and-one,'' Coach Rodney Terry said. ''We're still going to get touches and if he's not scoring he's helping someone else score. K.O. understands people are going to game plan him, so in terms of some other things we can do against a box-and-one, there will be some other things we can do to prepare for defenses that try to play that way against him.
''But, obviously, he's out leading scorer right now and people are going to guard him.''
The Mustangs tried, obviously. But Olekaibe continued to find shots, even with Giles and Ryan Manuel in pursuit everywhere he went and the other four defenders sagging off in the paint.
He had 10 points in the first half and when the Bulldogs were struggling to create shots in the second half, Olekaibe was able to make plays to keep the Bulldogs close. Down three early in the second half, he hit a 3-pointer to tie. Down seven with 13:15 to play, he hit a 3-pointer to get Fresno State back to within four. Down eight with 9:55 to go, he missed a 3-pointer, tracked down the rebound and fed Kevin Foster for a dunk. Down 10 with 5:57 remaining, he got a rebound at the defensive end and pushed the ball up court to Larry McGaughey, who knocked down a jumper.
Then, down two with 27 seconds remaining, Olekaibe nailed the 3-pointer that put Fresno State in the lead for the first time since the 7:31 mark of the first half.
''I'm probably going to be seeing that throughout the season, different players on me,'' Olekaibe said. ''But I conditioned myself in the preseason to play at a high level at all times and come of screens and run hard, so I don't think it will affect me much. I've seen it in high school already, even though it's different from high school to college. I know what to expect and it's just going to make me better as a playmaker, finding my teammates, so I think it's a good thing.''
The Bulldogs' offense still is not working seamlessly - they went through a stretch of more than 10 minutes in the first half scoring only one point and hit only 6 of 28 shots (21.4 percent) in the first 20 minutes. But they also made adjustments in the second half, pushing tempo and spacing the floor to create more room to operate around the basket for Jonathan Wills, for Foster and Jerry Brown.
''You know, K.O. is going to be game-planned against all year long. But in the scheme of the things we're doing, we've got other guys that can score the ball,'' Terry said.
''Jonathan Wills can step up there. He's stepping in and becoming more confident as a possible third scorer. Larry (McGaughey) gave us some positive minutes up here the last two days. Kevin Foster is just going to continue to play his way in there.''
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