College basketball teams typically arrive at the arena 90 minutes before tipoff, lace up their sneakers and head to the court to stretch and casually get up a few shots. Venue staff mills around. Seats are empty. Maybe some music is playing in the background.
That’s how it was at Grand Canyon’s GCU Arena in Phoenix two seasons ago, when a No. 25-ranked San Diego State team played the Antelopes, just another pregame warmup, quiet and unassuming … until suddenly, an hour before tip, the doors flew open and students began sprinting to seats they’d never sit in.
Within minutes, an entire sideline, one end, a couple corners and the standing-room sections of the cozy, 7,000-capacity building were filled with purple-clad, face-painted students — the Havocs, they’re called — hopped up on soda and pepperoni pizza, music pumping, bodies jumping, the place thumping.
And it just gets louder and louder and louder from there.
“It’s their students, it’s the piped-in sound, it’s the smaller arena with a low ceiling,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “Everything about it is made for noise and made for sound. … It’s not overly big like some of these arenas we play in, so the noise seems to echo. And they pipe in a lot of music. There’s a lot of piped-in noise in there.
“It’s just a loud environment. It presents challenges.”
That’s what awaits the Aztecs, 7-0 and alone atop the Mountain West, on Wednesday night against a Grand Canyon team that has reached the last two NCAA Tournaments and has what is believed to be the conference’s most expensive roster. Consider: Brown transfer Nana Owusu-Anane picked the Antelopes over Kansas.
Home record over the last three seasons: 40-3.
At least the Aztecs know what to expect, having been there twice and lost twice.
“Very hectic,” Miles Byrd said.
“Very loud,” Reese Dixon-Waters said.
Or listen to NBA star Donovan Mitchell, from a 2016 game there with Louisville: “Duke isn’t the craziest place I’ve ever played. I’m going to give a shout-out to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Beats Michigan State, beats Kentucky, beats Miami. At Pitt, at Syracuse, at Carolina, it doesn’t matter.”
Or his coach at the time, Rick Pitino: “In college basketball, my 40-plus years, (that) was the toughest crowd I’ve ever faced.”
Grand Canyon guard Caleb Shaw drives on Utah State forward Karson Templin (22) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Or Utah State, which was ranked No. 23 and lost 84-74 there Saturday to relinquish first place to SDSU.
In the days before the game, the Havocs allegedly distributed the cellphone numbers of Aggies coach Jerod Calhoun and star guard Mason Falslev. Calhoun said they were inundated with texts, some of which he described as “disturbing.”
Dixon-Waters remembers the Havocs being personal but not crossing a line.
“Their fans were pretty funny,” he said of the December 2023 visit, a 79-73 Antelopes win that was the first in their Division I history against a ranked opponent. “They had some things they picked out for me specifically. It’s always cool to know that somebody did their research on you. They brought up stuff from my previous school (USC), people that I knew, which was kind of weird.
“I wanted to hear it, though. I purposely walked over there (during warmups). It’s funny. After the first thing they said, I was like, I’ve got to really listen to what they’re saying. I don’t think it distracted me at all. I think it’s more creative when you don’t use expletives and you come up with something way more creative.”
Byrd was in his first season as a rotation player and largely anonymous. That likely won’t be the case this trip for the Mountain West preseason player of the year.
“I remember it, I don’t know if they remember me,” Byrd said. “I was playing 10 minutes a game at the time. I don’t know how much education they had on me on my history. I know they’re going to have some stuff ready to say to me (this time). You laugh at it, block it out and focus on the game.”
Grand Canyon forward Gabe McGlothan celebrates with fans after the team’s win over San Diego State in an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
That they are even playing again is a matter of consternation, controversy and, now, the courts.
The Aztecs initially entered into a home-and-home series with GCU back in 2015 after then-coach Dan Majerle and program guardian angel Jerry Colangelo called in a favor with SDSU coach Steve Fisher.
Grand Canyon shocked the Aztecs 52-45 at Viejas Arena in what Majerle called the best win in program history. The following year, SDSU got the full effect of GCU Arena and lost again after being outscored 10-1 to close the game amid a tsunami of noise.
That figured to be the end of the series, until SDSU was having trouble filling the 2019-20 schedule and needed a home-and-home, and the Antelopes were available.
The Aztecs won the first game easily, 86-61 at Viejas Arena with a Malachi Flynn-led team that would finish 30-2. The return game was scheduled for GCU the following November, then scrapped when the NCAA moved back the start of the college basketball season because of the pandemic.
“We had a contract that said we’d return the game,” Dutcher said. “I assumed it was canceled. They came back and said, ‘No, no, it’s postponed.’ That’s a different word than canceled.”
Grand Canyon guard Collin Moore (8) drives on San Diego State guard Reese Waters during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
SDSU finally relented in 2023-24 instead of paying the contract’s $150,000 buyout (as Saint Mary’s did a few years earlier to avoid a return game at GCU Arena) and lost again. The Havocs stormed the court.
That, then, figured to really be the end … until last summer, when the Mountain West allowed Grand Canyon to join the conference a year earlier than planned.
In its lawsuit with the conference over exit fees, schools leaving for the Pac-12 next season have accused Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez of “fraudulently concealing a plan to covertly add Grand Canyon” before the five officially gave notice of their departure and forfeited voting privileges.
The five, sources have told the Union-Tribune, were united in their opposition to letting the Antelopes in the pen and had the votes to block them.
Rumors of Grand Canyon’s imminent addition began swirling last spring. SDSU, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State gave their formal notice of departure in June. The Mountain West announced Grand Canyon would join for 2025-26 instead of 2026-27 on July 8.
The men’s basketball schedule was released in September: SDSU at Grand Canyon, Jan. 21.
“I don’t think there’s really a way to prepare for it,” Dixon-Waters said of the Havocs. “I think you’re either made for it or you’re not.”
San Diego State (13-4, 7-0) at Grand Canyon (11-6, 4-2)
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: GCU Arena, Phoenix
TV: Fox Sports 1
Radio: 760 AM