San Diego State and Oregon, both coming off victories over ranked opponents on Tuesday, will meet on Wednesday afternoon in the Players Era Festival at Las Vegas.
San Diego State (3-1) defeated No. 21 Creighton 71-53 before Oregon (6-0) beat No. 20 Texas A&M 80-70.
The Aztecs, Ducks, Bluejays and Aggies comprise the “Power Group” of the eight-team format of the Players Era Festival.
A win on Wednesday, signifying a 2-0 start in the event, would send either San Diego State or Oregon to the championship game on Saturday. The four teams in each group are seeded based on performance after the first two games.
Each of the eight schools are guaranteed at least $1 million for NIL purposes, with additional bonus money distributed based on teams’ results.
BJ Davis notched a career-high 18 points and Miles Byrd contributed 16 for the Aztecs against Creighton.
Davis, a sophomore, never reached double figures last season, but he has at least 11 in all four games this season.
He is averaging a team-best 15 points a game while shooting 62.2 percent (23 of 37) from the field, including 50 percent (8 of 16) from 3-point range.
“All the work that we put in as a collective, and just for me to be able to go out there and perform, it feels great,” said Davis, who was a reserve last season. “Just going to keep working and keep trusting the coaches, keep trusting my teammates.”
Oregon went on a 16-0 run in the second half to take a six-point lead over Texas A&M, but the Aggies bounced back to lead 69-68 with 4:41 to go. The game was tied 70-70 with two minutes remaining before the Ducks scored the final 10 points — eight from the foul line.
The Ducks sank 12 consecutive shots from the field at one point in the second half, with nine of them layups or dunks.
Oregon made 45.5 percent of its field-goal attempts overall, the first team to shoot better than 40 percent against Texas A&M.
The Ducks were led by TJ Bamba’s 18 points, while Brandon Angel and Jackson Shelstad each added 16.
“He’s got a lot of experience,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said of Bamba, a senior captain. “He did some real good things, started getting to the basket, and that made a big difference.”
–Field Level Media
