The Nike Elite basketballs that San Diego State normally uses have been at the bottom of the shelf for a week. Above are six brand new, bright orange Wilson Evo balls that they ordered from Amazon.

That’s because the Players Era Festival uses Wilson balls, just like the NCAA Tournament.

And the Aztecs don’t want to make the same mistake the teams made at the Champions Classic in Atlanta earlier this month. Kentucky spent the week practicing with the Spalding ball that would be used in the event, hitting 40% on 3s and winning; Michigan State and Duke reportedly failed to do so, shooting and losing 12% and 17%, respectively.

As for the city and the opponent in Tuesday morning’s opening game of the eight-team tournament, they know it well.

Las Vegas is the second home of SDSU basketball. The Aztecs have played here 73 times since the 2009-10 season and won 57 times between annual regular season games at UNLV, the Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center and non-conference events like this one.

And her opponent at the MGM Grand Garden Arena at 11 a.m. on TBS?

Let’s just say SDSU and Creighton have some history.

They are 1,300 miles apart and belong to different conferences. One is a public university on the Pacific Coast, the other is a private, parochial university in Omaha, Nebraska. One is known for its defense, the other for its offense. One wears scarlet and black, the other blue and white. And yet it is the sixth time they have played since 2011.

“Someone we’re very familiar with,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “A known enemy.”

Creighton coach Greg McDermott is nearing his 500th career win and was recently asked to list his top 25.

Two of those came against the Aztecs – the 85-83 win at Viejas Arena in 2011 after trailing by 17 minutes and the 72-69 overtime victory in the 2022 NCAA Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas after they We were nine minutes behind with 2:30 minutes left in regulation.

Aztecs fans will remember the others better: 86-80 at the 2013 Wooden Legacy in Fullerton after trailing 14-2; the 31-point victory in the 2019 Las Vegas Invitational at Orleans Arena; and of course the most recent encounter in the 2023 Elite Eight in Louisville, Kentucky.

That was decided with 1.2 seconds left when Darrion Trammell called a controversial foul in the lane and sank a free throw for a 57-56 victory that sent the Aztecs to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

When later asked about the call, McDermott went straight, a sign of respect between the programs that were so friendly that they shared a charter flight to the Maui Invitational earlier in the season.

“Two teams played hard and officiating is part of the game,” McDermott said in Louisville. “We won’t go there. We lost the game because we didn’t do enough, and San Diego State did.”

No one who played for SDSU that day is still on the roster. There are three Creighton players, and only Ryan Kalkbrenner had more than three minutes.

Yes, he’s still in college.

It’s his fifth season and Tuesday will mark his 140th career game (and 109th career start). He is 7 foot 1 tall. He is a preseason All-American. He had 49 points in the opener against Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

And then Friday night against rival Nebraska…he took one shot in 39 minutes.

It was a puzzling turn of events in a 74-63 home loss that dropped the Bluejays from No. 14 to No. 21 in the Associated Press poll and that could have repercussions Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The Cornhuskers brought Kalkbrenner to the post and provided aggressive help from behind to block the lob over the top.

The risk: They left perimeter shooters open.

The reward: The Bluejays went 12 of 42 from behind the arc and had 17 turnovers to force the ball inside.

“If you get free throws, you can live with it,” said Kalkbrenner, who scored four points in 39 minutes, all from free throws. “You can trust me with five guys, and if they give up completely open threes, I don’t care if I shoot. We have to beat them down next time, and we will. We have a lot of good shooters on this team. I have faith in her.”

Your move, Coach Dutcher.

Steal the blueprint and hope the Bluejays didn’t practice with the sticky Wilson balls? Or are you trying to fool McDermott by having your young bigs try something unexpected?

“They’re going to spend the next three days (since the loss at Nebraska) trying to figure out why they didn’t get it done and finding ways to get it done,” Dutcher said. “I’m sure they will value the fact that he had a chance. We could play the same defense as Nebraska, and Nebraska could play them again today, and they would find a way to get to him for more than one shot.”

One person who probably won’t pass the Wilson ball to Kalkbrenner is fifth-year senior point guard Steven Ashworth.

He’s another familiar opponent, having played against the Aztecs for three years at Utah State before transferring to Creighton last season and taking advantage of his extra “Covid” year there this season. In the second half, he landed on the foot of a Nebraska player, twisted his right ankle and was lifted off the ground in tears.

“Dressed it up pretty well,” McDermott said. A school official said Tuesday that Ashworth was questionable.

That requires 16 points, 6.4 assists and 23 of 23 free throws from the lineup, helping to offset the significant experience deficit of an Aztecs team that has six freshmen or sophomores in the rotation.

It also balances out the injury record. SDSU will be without preseason all-conference guard Reese Waters for at least another month.

“It’s hard to play shorthanded,” Dutcher said. “While they will still be good, they are obviously better with him on the floor.”

The wild card, of course, is the way his squad of freshmen, sophomores and freshmen handle their first game together outside of Viejas Arena, from a crazy environment against No. 3 Gonzaga to an 11 a.m. tipoff in an empty venue, where you can hear sneakers squeaking.

“You never want to lose a game, especially this early,” second-year wing Miles Byrd said of the 80-67 loss to the Zags. “But when you lose a game against the No. 3 team in the country, I don’t think you can really count it as a loss. It’s more of a lesson. We saw what a top team in the country looks like. I think we’ve come to the right place.

“We have a few young people who are still in the learning phase. I played, but obviously not very well (zero points in 22 minutes). A few changes and we would have been right in this game. It was a good performance for us, but we have to keep improving.”

Originally published: November 25, 2024 at 5:59 pm PST