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Long Beach State shows up at CenturyLink Center on Saturday night with 19 wins, one of the country's top point guards and a supporting cast that has its sights set on playing in the NCAA tournament.

What the 49ers won't have is stars in their eyes. For them, a game in a big venue against a high-quality team is old hat. Already this season, they've played Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, North Carolina at the Dean Dome and Louisville at Freedom Hall.

"They've gone everywhere and played,'' Creighton forward Doug McDermott said, "and they're not going to be scared coming in against us.''

The 9 p.m. BracketBusters game pits teams with similar aspirations. Creighton is 22-5 and owns an NCAA RPI ranking of 27. Long Beach State is 19-6 with a No. 42 RPI ranking. The 49ers haven't lost since Christmas Day, winning 12 in a row since Kansas State beat them in a tournament in Hawaii.

"They're going to come out hungry, wanting to win on a national stage with everyone watching,'' Creighton guard Jahenns Manigat said. "For them, this is another chance to put a win on their résumé and show the nation they deserve a spot (in the NCAA tournament).

"That's the same approach we have. We feel we deserve a spot. We've played well all year and with another quality opponent coming into our house, our job is to hold them down and win that game.''

When pairings were announced at the end of last month, Creighton owned the best RPI and record of any of the teams designated to play at home in the BracketBusters series. The Bluejays won their first game in February to improve to 21-2, then dropped their next three to Northern Iowa, Evansville and Wichita State.

A key reason for Creighton's struggles was that the Bluejays were missing many of the same shots they had been making, shooting 41 percent from the field over the three-game stretch. They bounced back to make a Missouri Valley-record 77.5 percent in Tuesday's 88-69 win at Southern Illinois.

"Every team goes through a stretch like that sometime during the season,'' Long Beach State coach Dan Monson said. "Shooting is kind of contagious, and I think we all knew it was just a matter of time before they started making their shots again. I just wish they would have waited another week.''

Monson has slowly built the 49ers into a tournament contender since taking over the program five seasons ago. That should come as no surprise as he had a hand in turning Gonzaga, another West Coast mid-major, into a national power during his 11 seasons at the Spokane, Wash., school.

He was the Zags' head coach his final two seasons, guiding them to 52 wins and a spot in the Elite Eight of the 1999 NCAA tournament.

"Creighton reminds me of my old Gonzaga teams,'' he said. "They spread you out with the 3 and then attack.''

His current team, with four senior starters that probably will all finish their careers as 1,000-point scorers, is cut from a different cloth.

The 49ers are long on athleticism. In fact, Monson said Larry Anderson, T.J. Robinson, Eugene Phelps and Casper Ware were better athletes than basketball players when they joined the program.

They've cut the gap over the seasons, but their style of play still requires some adjustments for their coach.

"You have to let go a little bit and not try to micromanage,'' Monson said. "If you don't, it will drive you nuts. I've realized letting these guys go off on their own a little gives us the best chance to win.

"We're disciplined on defense, but I can assure you we'll shoot some shots Saturday night that the coach doesn't approve of.''

At 5-foot-10, Ware might pose the biggest threat for the Bluejays. The guard averages a team-high 17.1 points and 3.1 assists per game. He is one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which goes to the nation's top point guard.

"He's as good a point guard as we've faced, and we've faced some good ones,'' Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "The numbers Casper has put up, the big shots he's hit and his ability to disrupt things on the defensive end of the court really catches your eye.

"He's a very talented young man and it's going to be a great matchup between senior point guards.''

Creighton's Antoine Young was one of the 20 players originally named to the Cousy watch list. He comes into Saturday's game — his next-to-last home appearance — averaging 11.5 points and 4.5 assists.

His matchup with Ware will be one of the interesting subplots that plays out Saturday night. Another is whether Creighton can back up the solid performance at Southern Illinois with another strong effort against a top-level opponent.

Asked if the hot-shooting night in Carbondale, Ill., indicated that the "real'' Creighton team is back, Manigat replied, "We haven't really gone away. The only difference is that we missed a couple of shots that we normally make. I think some people made a big deal out of that.

"Wichita State came in and put a whopping on us, but we're the same team that's always been here. We're not going away. We're going to compete and work our butts off and do everything that we can to win. If that means we're back, then I guess we're back.''

• Notes: This will be the fifth meeting between the schools but the first since 1973. Creighton holds a 3-1 series edge, including a 2-0 record in games played in Omaha. . Creighton is 6-3 in BracketBusters games, including a 4-2 record in televised games. The Bluejays are 3-4 in return games against their BracketBusters opponents. . Creighton's dead-eye shooting against Southern Illinois produced the highest field-goal percentage by any team in the country since 2005. . As of midday Friday, Creighton had about 1,500 tickets to sell for the game. The Bluejays have performed in front of sellout crowds at home six times this season. . Doug McDermott is averaging 22.7 points and shooting 50 percent from 3-point range. No player nationally has averaged more than 20 points and shot 50 percent from beyond the arc since the 2000-01 season.

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