The key to a game is rarely this clear cut.

In an intriguing matchup of contrasting styles, Hawaii hopes its disruptive defense will wear down Cal Poly’s superior ball control. Wednesday’s 7 p.m. meeting at the Stan Sheriff Center is the Big West Conference season opener for both teams.

Cal Poly leads the nation with just 8.4 turnovers per game. Meanwhile, UH’s season averages of 16.6 turnovers forced and 9.0 steals per game lead the conference.

"Something’s going to give," Cal Poly coach Joe Callero said.

Callero drills angles, spacing and fundamental passing and catching into Poly’s culture during preseason practices. It helped the Mustangs turn it on late last season and win the Big West tournament in Anaheim, Calif., in stunning fashion — they were the seventh seed, but protected the ball better than anyone in crunch time and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they even won a play-in game against Texas Southern.

The result: a sizable uptick in interest in the school from San Luis Obispo, Calif.

"Guys jump on your bandwagon, and we say, ‘Come join us, there’s plenty of room,’ " Callero said. "We wanted that. It’s OK. It’s OK to suddenly say you love Cal Poly basketball."

UH has gotten a little attention of its own lately. Coach Benjy Taylor was honored Monday as the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year, a midseason award given to a midmajor program.

Taylor cautioned that the Rainbow Warriors, winners of five of their final six nonconference games, shouldn’t expect to disrupt the Mustangs to the tune of UH’s usual rate with upcourt pressure and playing passing lanes.

"We’re not going to turn them over the way we’ve turned other teams over," Taylor said. "We’re just not going to do that. … We’re still going to play our same style of defense. If we get them to take some tough shots, get them late in the shot clock, that’s a small victory for us."

UH will try to piece those small victories into one big one, but will most likely have to do it without senior guard Garrett Nevels, who had surgery to repair a ligament near his right thumb last week. He was to get his protective cast off Tuesday, but hasn’t practiced for the past several days, which precludes him from playing, Taylor said.

Freshman Isaac Fleming will step into the starting lineup, Taylor said, and attempt to replace Nevels’ 12 points per game. Fleming is averaging 9.6 points on 47.5 percent shooting.

"Be the player I know I can be," Fleming said of his approach. "Don’t be extra, just play like myself."

Cal Poly knows its strengths and limitations, and embraces them. Poly scored the fewest points per game, 63.1, among BWC teams in nonconference play, while UH put up the most at 74.0. But that could be deceiving, Taylor pointed out, as Poly has a knack for slowing teams into forcing shots deep into the shot clock, often with a tricky 1-3-1 zone. At the other end, they score opportunistically.

"We’re still going to try to turn them over as much as we can," said point guard Roderick Bobbitt, who is among the nation’s leaders with 2.5 steals per game. "But we’re not going to be undisciplined with it and gamble and everything. … We’re a quick team, so we’ll try to speed them up."

The Mustangs, picked sixth to UH’s fifth in the Big West preseason poll, lost talented forward Chris Eversley to graduation but have never relied on any one player to be effective. It is the seventh straight game away from home for Poly, its longest stretch in 35 years. But they’ve won four of five — and the loss in between was to No. 8 Gonzaga.

The Mustangs go to athletic wing David Nwaba (14.7 ppg) and forward Brian Bennett (11.0) as their leading offensive options, but guard Reese Morgan (9.9) adds a scoring punch off the bench.

"I’m pretty impressed with the job they’ve done," Taylor said.

Similarly, Callero took notice of UH, particularly its solid play in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

Swingman Negus Webster-Chan exited UH’s win over Prairie View A&M with a tweaked right ankle but practiced fully leading up to the Poly game.

UH follows at home Saturday against Cal State Northridge.