Now in his senior year, Fresno State big man Orlando Robinson has been garnering a lot of national attention with his dominant plays throughout this season.  

He was also named to the Mid-Season Watch List for the 2021-22 Lute Olson National Player of the Year award, which is presented annually to the top player in Division I college basketball.

Robinson was not only named the Lute Olson National Player of the Week by College Insider for the week of Jan.17, but he was also named the Mountain West Player of the Week for the first time in his career as a Bulldog.   

The Las Vegas native has solidified himself as not only one of the best big men in all of college basketball but one of the best all-around players period, finding himself among the top 50 players in the country in scoring. 

Robinson has been named to national midseason award lists as well.  

The seven-foot big man averaged 27.5 points and 11.5 rebounds during that week while leading the Bulldogs to a 2-0 record with away game victories over San Jose State 79-59 and UNLV 73-68 .

Robinson dominated in the blowout win against San Jose State, putting up a season-high 31 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. He then followed that up by scoring 24 points and pulling down 11 rebounds to lead in the victory over UNLV in his hometown of Las Vegas. 

Not to mention Robinson was injured in that same UNLV game.

“He hurt his tongue, hurt his eye, you know did a lot of stuff, but he is a pretty tough cookie though,” Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson said.  

Robinson has played through those nagging injuries and came out with 11 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 shots in a win over Utah State on Jan. 18. He then proceeded to get 26 points, grabbing 12 boards and dishing out 4 assists in a close loss against Nevada on the road on Jan. 21.  

This comes after a sophomore season where Robinson averaged 14.6 points per game, shot 44% from the floor and grabbed 9.2 rebounds per game. He leads his team in the scoring department this season, averaging 19.2 points per game this year so far and shooting a 50% percent clip from the field, he is also the leader in rebounding for the Bulldogs grabbing 8.6 rebounds per game.

Robinson tested the NBA waters along with fellow teammate Deon Stroud, but ultimately decided to return to Fresno State for the 2021-2022 season. 

As Robinson climbs the all-time scoring list in Fresno State history this season, Hutson weighed in on what it means to him seeing Robinson be so successful.

“As a coach you will probably look back on it when he is gone, right I think you don’t really reflect in it right now you know I mean you ask him and yeah it’s important,”  Hutson said. “But I think it’s something that when he is gone I think we will reflect on some of the stuff that he has done.”

His coach is not the only one who can attest to the dominant season that Robinson is having so far, as his teammates who are on the floor with him gave praise to what he has been able to accomplish while at Fresno State. 

“I’ve been around him for three years now so I am just real proud of him and seeing him go up the list is really crazy honestly and there are not that many times where a guy like this comes in and plays like that, he’s a real special talent,”  Fresno State guard Anthony Holland said.  

During a tough grind-it-out game against New Mexico at the Pit arena, Robinson got injured with an ankle injury and had to sit out the remaining 12 minutes of the first half. With Fresno State up 41-26 at halftime, New Mexico went on a 23-8 run in the second half to cut their deficit to two points at 51-49. Even with Robinson able to return for nearly the last nine minutes of the game, Fresno State was able to win by 5 points with 65-60 over the Lobos. 

Hutson touched on what he thought about Robinson’s health during the game and having him come back in the game in the second half.

“He showed me what I know about O already. If I didn’t think he had that, he wouldn’t have went back in the game, right? When he said he had a chance to go back in, someone who works as hard as he does and means as much to our program and us as he does, if he says he has a chance to go back in and they say he was healthy then we were going to give him a chance to go back in,” Hutson said.

Robinson’s health was a major concern coming off the New Mexico game and going into a huge showdown with Boise State at the Save Mart Center Friday, Jan. 28. 

He started off the week not practicing and then was able to get in a limited practice on Thursday, eventually being able to suit up for the matchup against the No.1 in the Mountain West Broncos.  

With the performance that Robinson put together, audiences would have had no idea that he hardly practiced all week and was coming in with an injury designation. Robinson started the game scoring the majority of the points for the Dogs’ right off the tip. A back-and-forth, hard-fought game led to a game-tying shot by Boise State’s Marcus Shaver Jr. to take it into overtime. 

Robinson was lost early in the overtime period, fouling out on an offensive charging call. The Bulldogs lacked their go-to-guy and ultimately weren’t able to pull out the win, losing a close one 68-63.

Robinson continued to show why he has earned national exposure, leading his team with a dominant scoring effort putting up a game-high 21 points on 9-for-15 shooting for the Bulldogs as well as grabbing five boards in the loss. 

Orlando Robinson looks to continue his stellar season and help his team get a bounce back win in San Jose against SJSU on Tuesday, Feb. 1.