Perhaps it’s déjà vu or perhaps it’s a sign of positive change just around the corner.
Nevertheless, the Fresno State Men’s Basketball team enters Year 3 in the Vance Walberg era of Bulldogs Hoops similar to the first two, a mixed bag of unknowns with roster turnover increasing by the year.
“It is what it is,” Walberg said. “No excuses. It’s just really tough.”
Success was hard to find during the first two years under Walberg, going 6-26 in 2024-25 before improving to 13-19 a year ago.
Despite more than doubling the team’s win total in year two, Fresno State returns zero minutes from last year’s team.
Last year’s leading scorer and All-Mountain West Third Team selection Jake Heidbreder (17 PPG) and forward Cameron Faas (5.3 PPG) both graduated and guard D.J. Stickman was removed from the team after suffering an ACL injury during February of last season that’s expected to take up all of this season to recover from.
“It’s a tough situation,” Walberg said. “I’d love to have him, but we only have so many roster spots, and DJ won’t be healthy. He won’t get a chance to play 5-on-5 until the end of December or early January.”
Walberg noted the pileup of injuries in recent seasons as a major factor in the decision. Stickman averaged 3.5 points in 14.4 minutes per game over 21 appearances, including one start.
The remaining 11 players that played minutes last season all transferred elsewhere, including DeShawn Gory (Oregon State), Zaon Collins (Ball State), David Douglas Jr. (Northern Illinois), Gasper Kocevar (Howard), Jac Mani (Tarleton State), Wilson Jacques (DePaul). Jacques in particular will earn $1.1M as part of his NIL package, ‘life changing money’ as Walberg noted.
“I wish we had a few people back. I wish we would have them back,” Walberg said. “It’s the times that we’re in. The NIL is crazy.”
Walberg on Wednesday morning suggested the NCAA limit players to one transfer each to limit the amount of roster turnover from year-to-year.
Fresno State, expected to be near if not at the very bottom of the Pac-12 in NIL budgets, will dearly miss Gory, a do-it-all freshman forward that averaged 13.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 2.0 APG. He also had 25 steals and 11 blocks on the year.
“DeShawn was a special breed. He had an aura of confidence that you just don’t find,“ Walberg said. “The sounds in that gym, if we had workouts at 6:30 in the morning, he wanted to be in the gym at 5:30.”
Gory will return to the Save Mart Center as a member of the Beavers when Oregon State comes to Fresno on February 20th.
The one carryover from last year’s team to this year’s team was guard Nathan Zulemie, who will miss his second straight season with an ACL injury.
So where does that leave Fresno State’s roster for the 2026-27 season?
A brand new squad
What we have learned during the brief time they’ve been in action is Lipscomb transfer Ross Candelino can shoot the ball from deep and guards K.J. Perry and freshman Roger Fabrega Urpina are expected to carry the load of ball-handling duties.
It’s hard to place expectations on a squad with 15 players (14 excluding Zulemie) that have never played with each other, besides a brief trip to the Bahamas this summer and two “secret scrimmages.”
“The biggest thing I think that we took away is we can compete with anybody. I believe that from day one,” Candelino said.
Candelino, a 6-foot-5 guard who appeared in 28 games last season, averaged 11.2 PPG and 5.2 RPG while connecting on a team-high 66 3-pointers (42.6%), providing Fresno State with an experienced perimeter shooting threat.
Perry, the number one JUCO recruit in the country a year ago, transferred to BYU but didn’t play last season. The combo guard should be among the team’s leading scorers and playmakers but he’s more focused on what he can provide on the other end of the floor, citing his on-ball defensive skills as his best asset.
“Everything starts on defense. So if I can kind of just be that person to just get us started, I think everything will just flow with it right after that,” Perry said.
The 6-foot-1 Fabrega comes to the United States with plenty of professional experience already under his belt and high praise from his teammates.
“I’ve never played with Roger, and obviously he doesn’t speak very good English, so you’re like you’re sitting there thinking like all right, but then you start playing with them and it’s like you guys have been playing with each other for seven years,” Candelino said. “Like you, just kind of form a connection with some players.”
The starting lineup early in the season is expected to be rounded out by fellow transfers Dragos Lungu (UT Martin) and center Bradey Henige (Cal Baptist), though Walberg said there could be a lot of movement in the rotation early in the season.
Lungu has been a potent mid-level scorer in his career, including scoring 13.8 PPG on 62% from the field last season as a redshirt sophomore but the 6-foot-6 Romanian guard has managed to play in just 13 total games since appearing in 30 games (11 starts) for the University of San Diego in 2023-24.
Henige, a 7-footer from Glendale, AZ transfers to Fresno State after spending his first two seasons at Cal Baptist. He averaged 4.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG over 20.2 MPG last season.
He’ll be splitting time with transfer Baye Fall, a 6-foot-11 big who has played sparingly at three different major programs, including Arkansas, Kansas State and most recently Rutgers.
A 4-star recruit and #1 rated prospect of his class out of Colorado, Fall hasn’t quite lived up to the potential but he hasn’t had a whole lot of playing time to prove himself (5.3 MPG in 22 career appearances). He does have 12 career blocks though.
Beyond that, Fresno State brought in Nebraska transfer Quentin Rhymes, a 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman guard, who should see some playing time in the second unit as well as the only guy on the team who’s spent minutes in a Bulldog uniform: Brian Amuneke.
Déjà vu
Amuneke returns to Fresno State after spending the 2025-26 season at Wichita State. The 6-foot-6 guard began his collegiate career with the Bulldogs before transferring to the Shockers, where he appeared in 36 games, but averaged just 8 minutes a game.
Fortunately for Amuneke, it’s a style he’s familiar with.
“Our system is pretty much common sense type basketball,” Amuneke said. “Not only the dribble drive but just trying to play together as a team. Move the ball as a team, get the best open shot, best look for every single one of us.
Amuneke averaged 7.7 PPG as a freshman, and even saw seven starts down the stretch of the season in 2025 before transferring, and is excited to bring even more to the Bulldogs than he did a couple years ago.
“I just know that with me getting better, I can add on to the system more, way better than I did before,” Amuneke said.
The freshman class
In addition to Fabrega, Walberg brought in five other freshmen to round out a heavy forward class including academy players Anthony Granger and Yeshua Kesse-Beda. He also brought in Rylan Parsley from Arizona.
Finishing up the 2026-27 freshmen class is a pair of 6-foot-8 European power forwards: Colin Schroeder (Germany) and Marko Vuckovic (Serbia), the latter of which Walberg described as an enigma.
“He’s very talented, but he is a stubborn Serbian, and I mean stubborn,” Walberg said. “It’s the first time I’ve had a Serbian in, and Marko at times just looks at me like, ‘Coach, you’re crazy,’ Yeah, I am.”
Vukovic projects as a rangy forward with the ability to shoot from distance while providing help on the glass. Schroder is more of an old-school big, playing the bruiser role.
“Colin gives you everything he’s got, every day. I mean, he’s six seven and a half, 245 pounds. He’s going to knock some people around,” Walberg said.
Their energy has been noticed by teammates already, including Candelino, who despite not always knowing what his European teammates are saying, feeds off their passion.
“They’re both very passionate about the game of basketball, and I think that’ll be something that [the Red Wave] can get behind,” Walberg said. “Obviously for fans, it’s a little bit harder because you can’t play. You have all this aggression, like you want to be able to play the game too, but you can’t. So you gotta kind of gotta live through somebody else on the court. And I think that Marko and Colin will help them blow some steam off. I love being with them. They can really flip the energy in the game real fast.”
Schedule outlook
The Bulldogs begin the 2026-27 season with one final tuneup this Saturday, October 24th, a home exhibition at the Save Mart Center at 2 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton.
“I had an old coach who said, ‘you only get one first impression.’ So we hope to make it a really good first impression,” Candelino said.
Fresno State will play 15 non-conference games between November and December of this year. Excluding the exhibition on Saturday, Fresno State will play eight times at the Save Mart Center during non-conference play, beginning with its home opener versus Fresno Pacific on Nov. 2nd at 6 p.m.
Other opponents coming to the Save Mart Center in 2026 include Georgia State, UC Riverside, Southern, Cal State University Northridge, San Francisco, Sacramento State and UC Santa Barbara.
The ‘Dogs will also host Alabama State at Selland Arena on Friday, Nov. 20th at 7 p.m.
“We heard great feedback from the Red Wave; they love going downtown one game a year. Coach Walberg really enjoys it,” Klassy said. “We want to lean into what makes this place special.”
The feedback hasn’t all been positive but that’s something Fresno State’s Director of Athletics is grateful for nonetheless.
“Although I prefer it all be positive, the negative feedback means people care and I’ll always take that over someone not caring about the sports teams,” Klassy said.
Of the team’s six games away from Fresno, four of them are in California due to the team’s not ‘very big travel budget,’ as Walberg noted. They will be traveling to UC San Diego, San Jose State, Santa Clara and UC Irvine this season.
The only two non-conference games outside the state will take place the weekend right after Thanksgiving as part of the Second Line Showcase in New Orleans, LA. Fresno State will play South Alabama (11/27) and South Dakota State (11/29) during the tournament.
The Bulldogs will play its first of 16 Pac-12 Conference games at home on Sunday, January 3rd at 1 p.m. versus Washington State.
This season will mark the Bulldogs first time ever playing at Texas State (2/18/27) and first time playing at Gonzaga (1/27/27) since 1961.
Of the other eight teams in its conference, seven of them have made the NCAA Tournament in the last six seasons.
The Pac-12 Conference Tournament begins on Tuesday, March 9th in Las Vegas, Nevada. For a complete schedule, visit the Fresno State Athletics website.
Fresno State men’s basketball will have 19 games televised nationally during the 2026-27 season, including all 16 Pac-12 Conference games.
Season prediction
Ceiling: 17-19 wins
Floor: 10-12 wins
Prediction: 15-17 record
I think this team is better than either of the last two seasons. If the front court can
Stay healthy, I think a strong non-conference showing and 5 to 7 wins in a tough conference can have the Bulldogs finish around .500 this season.
Is that the dream? Of course not, but Fresno State eventually needs to build some culture and continuity and perhaps that can happen beginning this season.
Story written by Al Scott, cover photo captured by Evan Hernandez (Fresno Sports Magazine). For more pictures and updates on Fresno State Athletics, follow @AlScott1998 on Twitter (X) or @AlScottSports on IG.