Cramps, quite literally, are cramping San Diego State’s style.

Sophomore Miles Byrd and freshman Pharaoh Compton both suffered from muscle cramps in Monday’s 80-67 loss against No. 3-ranked Gonzaga, neither able to finish the game for a team already missing senior guard Reese Waters (stress fracture) and starting forward Magoon Gwath (fouls).

The ankle that Byrd rolled in practice a week earlier, it turns out, wasn’t what held him back Monday. He started cramping on one side of his body in the second half and didn’t play the final 13 minutes.

Compton had cramps in one leg, had them massaged out, returned to the floor and went down under the basket with nine minutes to go – this time with cramps in both legs. It took several minutes for medical staff to help him to his feet and walk him (gingerly) to the bench.

It’s not just the Aztecs, though, which adds to the growing mystery.

Cooper Flagg, Duke’s star freshman, has cramped up in three separate games already, including a 77-72 loss against No. 9 Kentucky. So did Duke freshman 7-footer Khaman Maluach.

Former SDSU forward Elijah Saunders, now at Virginia, suffered from cramps as well in a game against Villanova.

“Cramping appears to be the new modern norm in college basketball,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “Everywhere I look up, guys are cramping – Duke and everybody. … I don’t know what it is. We have a great medical staff. We’ll try to find a way to get them hydrated and whatever they need to do to have them available.”

Duke coach Jon Scheyer issued a similar message after Flagg cramped in the second half against Army last week.

“Yeah, we’ve got to help him,” Scheyer said in his post-game media session. “I’m not happy about it, for him. We’ve got to help him, and we will. Right after (the game), I can promise you I’m going to be meeting (with the training staff). I don’t care if it’s all night. We can’t have that happen, bottom line.”

There are several working theories. One is that many of the victims seems be taller and younger players with bodies not yet adjusted to the physical demands of the college game, where teams start practicing in July for a season that doesn’t open until November.

Another culprit could be popular caffeine-based drinks that unwittingly serve as diuretics and accelerate dehydration.

Another could be an otherwise innocuous virus that might deplete nutrients to muscles during intense physical exertion.

“I started cramping in the second half when I was about to check back in,” Byrd said. “That’s why they held me out the rest of the game. It was just probably that I didn’t really do anything on my ankle all week. It was just getting a little dehydrated. I’ll take (responsibility) for that one.”

As for his ankle, it continues to make progress. It also helps that the Aztecs don’t play again until Tuesday in Las Vegas against Creighton.

“It should be 100%,” Byrd said.

Full circle

As part of its NIL obligations with the MESA Foundation, SDSU players went to nearby Hoover High on Tuesday afternoon and helped in the biweekly food drive with excess products from local grocery stores.

For Aztecs assistant coach JayDee Luster, it represented a full-circle moment. He’s a Hoover alum and was inducted into its sports Hall of Fame in 2022. There’s a photo of him (with hair) on the gym wall, along with Ted Williams and former SDSU basketball great Milton “Milky” Phelps.

“When I was at Hoover, we had three kids who were homeless on my team,” said Luster, a three-time all-state selection before a college career at New Mexico State and Wyoming. “There are a lot of kids who still don’t have it. You could see it. The line was long. These families are relying on that food.

“That’s 10 minutes away from our campus. I think it was good for our guys. It makes them appreciative. These are high school students, and some of them don’t know where they’re going to get a meal when they leave campus.”

Feeding San Diego has food distributions at Hoover on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 2:15 p.m.

The road ahead

The 13-point home loss to Gonzaga (when the computer predicted a seven-point game) dropped the Aztecs from No. 52 to 60 in the Kenpom metric. They have since climbed four spots to 56, likely thanks to opening opponent UC San Diego advancing to the championship of the eight-team Boardwalk Battle in Daytona Beach, Fla.

That makes SDSU the seventh rated team out of the eight at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas next week.

The lineup: 3 Houston, 9 Alabama, 20 Texas A&M, 21 Creighton, 34 Oregon, 51 Notre Dame, 56 SDSU, 68 Rutgers. Their combined record is 31-3, including SDSU’s loss to Gonzaga, currently Kenpom’s No. 1 team.

Kenpom projects a six-point loss for SDSU on Tuesday against Creighton and a three-point loss Wednesday against Oregon. In Saturday’s crossover game, the Aztecs will face Houston, Alabama, Notre Dame or Rutgers.

“We have a tall task ahead of us,” Dutcher said. “This is all good for us, in November. We want to find a way to win these games. But this will serve us well moving forward, regardless of the result.”

Originally Published: November 22, 2024 at 6:39 PM PST