Fresno State 4-Star freshman Joseph Hunter out for season
The 2022-23 Preseason Mountain West men’s basketball Freshman of the Year will not make his college debut until next year. Fresno State’s 4-Star guard Joseph Hunter is out for the season with an injury.
“yoyo” Hunter is officially out for the season, a team spokesman confirmed Wednesday. He is set to have surgery on a thumb injury sustained before the Bulldogs’ season-opener.
Hunter participated in Fresno State’s open practice on Oct. 29, which proved to be the only time the Red Wave will see him in action until next season. He was suited up for Fresno State’s scrimmage against Stanislaus State but did not play and had a noticeable brace on his hand and arm.
Hunter was in street clothes during Fresno State’s season-opening win versus Fresno Pacific on Nov. 7. Head coach Justin Hutson said then as to whether Hunter would return, “I don’t think so. JoJo has been hurt all year. He’s hurting his thumb now, so they’re going to decide if he’s going to have an operation or not.”
Fresno State’s first home game since was on Wednesday, a 67-60 loss to San Francisco. Hutson confirmed the bad news on Hunter after the game: “He’s got a bad (thumb) and is going to have surgery on it in a couple of days.”
The local Fresno (Calif.) San Joaquin Memorial prospect turned down an impressive list of scholarship offers to commit to his hometown team. Hunter’s offers reportedly included Nebraska, USC, Washington, Arkansas, Cal, Illinois, Ole Miss, San Diego State, TCU, UTEP, Washington State and Loyola Marymount. Hunter’s 96 rating by 247Sports was the highest for a Fresno State commit on record by the online recruiting rankings, which are predated by the Jerry Tarkanian area.
As to why he chose the hometown Bulldogs, Hunter told 247Sports, “They were my first offer and I took that seriously for sure because after I got that first offer, it gave me hope that I can be nice, play in the league, and get my family out of here basically. They always stayed loyal, always stayed down and kept a relationship with me so that was most important.”
Hutson said of Hunter during the preseason, “He’s very talented and we’re lucky to have him, we’re blessed to have him here. Freshmen don’t play much in this conference, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword. But that guy is really talented and we’re lucky to have him. If we can keep him healthy, he’s going to have a good year.”
Fresno State is missing his presence on the offensive end so far. In addition to Wednesday’s loss, the Bulldogs managed only 54 points in a 61-54 loss to UCSB in Santa Cruz last Friday. The ‘Dogs went a combined 7-of-26 from the 3-point line in those two games. They shot only 34 percent from the field against USF.
Fresno State now hits the road for four games and won’t be back home until Dec. 7. The ‘Dogs play at North Texas on Saturday at 3 pm PT, play Washington in the Wooden Legacy on Nov. 23 at 6:30 pm PT, then either Saint Mary’s or Vanderbilt the following Thanksgiving Day at 7 or 9:30 pm pt. The road trip concludes at UC Irvine on Dec. 3 at 6 pm PT.