Fresno State went into the Christmas break on the best kind of roll, coming back from a 17-point deficit to win at Arizona State. They will get a few days off before returning to practice the day after Christmas to prepare for a game on Thursday at Pacific, which might not be an easy mark even though it just lost at Cal State Bakersfield by 30 the other night, losing 83-53.

''They're a team that is well coached and I'm sure they'll be ready to play right out of the break,'' Coach Rodney Terry said of the Tigers, who are 4-6. ''We've got to come back and maintain our conditioning over the break and come back and try to build on a little bit of momentum here, continue to work hard and continue to try to get better.''

The Bulldogs somewhere in there will no doubt will get a reminder that the victory at Arizona State was their first this season on the road - they beat Southern Methodist in the NIT Season Tip Off on a neutral court at Stanford. And they have just 10 road victories over the past three-plus seasons.

Pacific also is undefeated at home.

The Tigers have beaten Cal State Monterey Bay and Cal State Dominguez Hills, wins that are not going to scare anyone. But they also have beaten Utah State (65-57 on Dec. 3) and Hawaii (64-54 on Dec. 6), teams that Fresno State will be competing against in the Western Athletic Conference.