There is history between San Diego State and Creighton going into Tuesday morning in Las Vegas – San Diego Union-Tribune

On By Littum

The Nike Elite basketballs that San Diego State normally uses have been tucked away at the bottom of the rack for the past week. At the top are six brand new, bright orange Wilson Evo balls that they ordered from Amazon.

That’s because the Players Era Festival uses Wilson balls, as does the NCAA Tournament.

And the Aztecs don’t want to make the same mistake teams at the Champions Classic in Atlanta did earlier this month. Kentucky spent the week practicing with the Spalding ball that the event had agreed to use and shot 40% on 3s and won; Michigan State and Duke reportedly did not, shooting 12% and 17%, respectively, and losing.

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

Las Vegas is SDSU basketball’s second home. The Aztecs have played here 73 times since the 2009-10 season, winning 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 their opponent at the MGM Grand Garden Arena at 11 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 private and church-based in Omaha, Neb. One is known for defense, the other for attack. One wears scarlet and black, the other blue and white. And yet this is the sixth time they have played since 2011.

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

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

Two came against the Aztecs — the 85-83 win at Viejas Arena in 2011 after trailing by 17, and the 72-69 overtime win in the 2022 NCAA Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, after trailing by nine inside 2:30 for to go in. regulation.

Aztecs fans will remember the others more fondly: 86-80 in the 2013 Wooden Legacy at Fullerton after trailing 14-2; 31-point shellacking in the 2019 Las Vegas Invitational down the street at Orleans Arena; and of course the most recent meeting of the 2023 Elite Eight in Louisville, Ky.

It was decided with 1.2 seconds left when Darrion Trammell drew 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.

McDermott took the high road when asked about the call afterward, a sign of respect between programs that were nice enough to share a charter flight to the Maui Invitational earlier this season.

“Two teams played their tails off, and that’s part of the game,” McDermott said in Louisville. “We’re not going down 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. Three players from Creighton are, and only Ryan Kalkbrenner got more than three minutes.

Yes, he is still in college.

It’s his fifth season and Tuesday will be his 140th career game (and 109th career start). He is 7-foot-1. 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 a shot in 39 minutes.

It was a puzzling turnaround in a 74-63 home loss that tumbled the Bluejays from the No. 14 to 21 in The Associated Press poll, and one that could have consequences Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The Cornhuskers fronted Kalkbrenner in the post and gave aggressive backside help to discourage lobs 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 trying to force the ball.

“If you get open shots, you live with it,” said Kalkbrenner, who finished with four points, all on free throws, in 39 minutes. “They can commit five people to me, and if they give up wide-open 3s, I don’t care if I shoot. We’ve got to knock them down next time, and we will. We’ve got a lot of good shooters on this team. I have confidence in them.”

Your move, Coach Dutcher.

Stealing the plan and hoping the Bluejays didn’t practice with those sticky Wilson balls? Or are you trying to cross McDermott by having your young adults try something unexpected?

“They’re going to spend the next three days (since the Nebraska loss) looking at how they didn’t get it to him and find ways they can,” Dutcher said. “I’m sure that’s going to be their focus that he got a shot. We could play the same defense as Nebraska and Nebraska could play them again today and they’d find a way to get to him for more than a shot.”

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

He’s another familiar foe, having faced the Aztecs for three years at Utah State before transferring to Creighton last season and spending his extra “Covid” year there this season. He landed on a Nebraska player’s foot in the second half, rolled his right ankle and was helped off the floor in tears.

“Strung it pretty good,” McDermott said. A school official has since said Ashworth is questionable Tuesday.

That takes 16 points, 6.4 assists and 23-of-23 free throws from the line, helping mitigate the significant experience deficit facing an Aztecs team that has six freshmen or sophomores in the rotation.

It also evens out the claims account. SDSU is still without preseason all-conference guard Reese Waters for at least another month.

“It’s hard to play short-handed,” Dutcher said. “While they’ll still be good, they’re obviously better with him on the floor.”

The wild card, of course, is how his roster of freshmen and sophomores and newbies handles its first game together away from Viejas Arena, going from a crazy environment against the No. 3 Gonzaga for a tip at 11 in an empty place where you can hear sneakers squeak.

“You never want to lose a game, especially this early,” sophomore wing Miles Byrd said of the 80-67 loss to the Zags. “But when you lose a game to the 3rd team in the country, I don’t think you can really count it as a loss. It’s more of a lesson. We have seen what a top team in the country looks like. I think we’re right there.

“We’ve got a couple of young guys who are still (on a learning curve). I played, but obviously I didn’t play very well (zero points in 22 minutes). A couple of tweaks and we would have been right in that game. That was a good show for us but we have to keep improving.

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