San Diego, Calif. – San Diego State, which is set to participate in the 2019 Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend, now knows it will play Creighton in its opening game of the event.
The Aztecs and Bluejays are scheduled to tip it off at 7:30 p.m. (PT) on Thursday, November 28, in the Orleans Arena, which will be the final game of day one of the two-day tournament. On Friday evening (Nov. 29), the SDSU/Creighton winner will face the winner of Texas Tech versus Iowa for the championship and the losers will play in a consolation game. The championship and consolation games are scheduled to tip off at 5:00 p.m. (PT) and 7:30 p.m. (PT), respectively.
This is the 19th year the event has been contested and the 14th year that the Orleans Arena has been the host. The Tournament consists of two brackets, Upper and Lower. San Diego State, Creighton, Texas Tech and Iowa compete in the Upper bracket with Tennessee State, Cal Poly, North Florida and LIU in the Lower bracket.
Fox Sports 1 (FS1) will televise all four Upper bracket games which include the two games on Thursday as well as the championship and consolation games on Friday.
Creighton finished 2018-19 with a 20-15 record and reached the third round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Iowa, which went 23-12 last season, was a No. 10 seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament and was eliminated in the round of 32 by No. 6 Tennessee. Texas Tech (31-7 in 2018-19) played for the national championship last year, falling to Virginia in overtime, 85-77.
This is the second time SDSU has participated in the tournament. The program first competed in the event in the 2015-16 season. San Diego State defeated No. 14/13 California, 72-58, in its opening game but lost to No. 22 West Virginia in the championship matchup, 72-50.
San Diego State has played Creighton six times and trail the Bluejays 4-2 in the all-time series, which began in 1948 with a 47-33 victory for Creighton in Omaha. The programs have met just two times since 1974; an 85-83 win for the Bluejays in Viejas Arena during the 2011-12 season, and an 86-80 Aztec win in the Wooden Legacy, in Fullerton, Calif., in the 2013-14 campaign.
The Aztecs return six of their top nine scorers off a team that posted a 21-13 record and advanced to the championship game of the Mountain West Conference tournament in 2019. San Diego State is one of just nine schools nationally to win at least 19 games each of the last 14 seasons and is one of 29 schools to play in seven of the last 10 NCAA tournaments.
San Diego State has been allotted a limited number of individual tickets for the 2019 Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational. To secure them contact the SDSU ticket office at (619) 283-7378.
2019 Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational
November 28 & 29
Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
November 28
Texas Tech vs. Iowa - 5:00 p.m. (PT)
San Diego State vs. Creighton – 7:30 (PT)
November 29
Championship – 5:00 p.m. (PT)
Consolation – 7:30 p.m. (PT)