Men's Hoops Looks to Continue Good WCC Start

Click on the above video player for an interview with the Waves' Lorne Jackson.

Pepperdine Men's Basketball Notes (PDF)

Jan. 12, 2010

THE FACTS - The Pepperdine men's basketball team will try to extend its good start to the West Coast Conference season with home games against Santa Clara and San Francisco this week. Thursday's game against the Broncos will be shown on ESPNU. The Waves are playing their first three league games at home, and five of the first seven. Mychel Thompson was named the WCC co-Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Waves to a comeback victory over rival Loyola Marymount.

GAME #18 - Thursday (Jan. 14) at Firestone Fieldhouse: Pepperdine (5-12, 1-0) vs. Santa Clara (8-11, 0-2) at 8 p.m.

GAME #19 - Saturday (Jan. 16) at Firestone Fieldhouse: Pepperdine vs. San Francisco (6-11, 1-1) at 7 p.m.

TELEVISION - Thursday's ESPNU telecast will be called by Todd Harris and Miles Simon.

ON THE WEB - Subscribers to "Wave Casts" can catch all Pepperdine men's basketball games on the internet at www.pepperdinesports.com. Veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein, now in his 25th season with the Waves, is behind the microphone. Most home games will have live audio and video, while road games will be audio only. Go to the Pepperdine Athletics website and look for the Wave Casts link. An annual pass costs $69.95 and monthly subscriptions are also available. Live statistics will be available for all home matches free of charge, and links are provided to the home team's website when the Waves are on the road.

PROMOTIONS - For the Santa Clara game, Pepperdine fans are encouraged to wear orange to create an "Orange Out" on television. The first 500 Pepperdine students will receive a free replica Pepperdine jersey. One lucky Pepperdine student will have the opportunity to take part in a halftime shootout for $10,000. Postgame, a Fifth Quarter event will include a screening of the movie "Tommy Boy" in Firestone Fieldhouse ... If the Waves are victorious and score 75 points or more in an upcoming home game, certificates will be given out afterward for a free piece of grilled chicken from the KFC in Malibu.

TICKETS - Men's basketball single-game tickets cost $15 (lower reserved), $12 (upper reserved), $10 (adult general admission) or $5 (child general admission). Call (866) WAVE-TIX to purchase tickets.

SANTA CLARA - Pepperdine is 53-65 all-time against Santa Clara. The Waves are 28-8 in Malibu against the Broncos. Pepperdine has won four straight meetings in Firestone Fieldhouse and 12 of the last 13 (the Broncos' lone road win in that span came in 2005). The schools have split the season series each of the last seven years.

SAN FRANCISCO - Pepperdine is 47-65 all-time against San Francisco. The Waves won two of three meetings last year, including a first-round matchup at the WCC Tournament. The Dons have won four straight in Firestone Fieldhouse, although the Waves are 18-15 against USF in Malibu.

LAST GAME - The 150th meeting ever between Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount was a classic, as the Waves used a 23-4 run to start the second half to rally for a 79-75 victory in the WCC opener for both schools on Saturday (Jan. 9). Pepperdine fell behind 16-3 after 6 1/2 minutes, trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half and was down 38-25 at halftime. Mychel Thompson (22 points) and Lorne Jackson (17 points) were key figures in the second-half comeback. Jonathan Dupre' hit a three-pointer with two minutes left to put Pepperdine ahead to stay at 67-65. In the first 38 minutes, the Waves missed all five of their free throw attempts, but they made nine of 12 at the end of the game to clinch the win.

MORE LMU POSTGAME NOTES - The Waves continued their recent dominance over the Lions, as they've won 12 straight at home in the series and 23 of the last 25 overall ... The Waves now lead the all-time series 90-60 ... Mychel Thompson sank a career-high six three-pointers on seven attempts and added a game-high-tying eight rebounds ... Lorne Jackson had a career-high six assists and tied his career high with four three-pointers ... The Waves sank a season-high 14 three-pointers (going nine for 12 in the second half) and made 60.9% of their 23 attempts ... Half of Pepperdine's 28 field goals made were three-pointers.

PCH CHALLENGE - The newly created PCH Challenge is a season-long competition between local rivals Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Thanks to Saturday's doubleheader sweep with the men and women's teams, the Waves now lead 6.0 to 3.5.

CONFERENCE OPENERS - Pepperdine has won its conference opener for the second straight year (both times it came against LMU). The Waves are attempting to start 2-0 for the first time since 2005.

ROSTER - There are no seniors on the 2009-10 squad, and 12 of the 16 players are underclassmen. The roster features four juniors, seven sophomores and five true freshmen. Pepperdine does return 11 letterwinners from last season (believed to be among the most in school history). Twelve players are on scholarship and four are walk-ons.

SOPHOMORE SCORERS - Last season, Pepperdine's eight-man freshman class scored more than half of the Waves' points (57.4%). So far, the now-sophomore class has contributed 66.0% of Pepperdine's scoring. The sophomores have been the top-scoring class in every game this season.

KEION BELL - Sophomore guard Keion Bell (Los Angeles, Calif./Pasadena HS) has been one of the most exciting and prolific players on the West Coast in 2009-10. He is currently averaging 19.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists. He currently ranks #2 in the WCC and #27 in the nation in scoring (he ranked as high as ninth nationally last month). Until a few weeks ago, he was one of just two players in the country averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. Bell has scored more than 20 points in nine games this season, including a career-high 34 against Monmouth. He's been in double-figures in every game but two. At the pace he's on, he could become Pepperdine's 35th 1,000-point scorer by the end of his sophomore season (he's got 745). In the WCC rankings, he's also fourth in steals (1.6), sixth in assists, ninth in minutes (32.0) and 18th in rebounding.

MYCHEL THOMPSON - Junior forward Mychel Thompson (Portland, Ore./Stoneridge Prep) was selected as team captain for 2009-10 after a landslide vote by his teammates. He is Pepperdine's only player that has been with the team for two full seasons. Thompson is averaging 11.9 points this season (second-best on the team) and 9.5 points for his career. He has broken into Pepperdine's career top 10 in three-pointers made (he's #10 with 115, Alex Acker is #9 at 120). Since a rough start to his season from beyond the arc, Thompson has made 24 of 49 (49%). He's been in double-figures in eight of the last 10 games (averaging 15.1 ppg over that span), including a career-high-tying 25 vs. Utah.

DANE SUTTLE JR. - Sophomore guard/forward Dane Suttle Jr., third-best on the team at 10.3 points per game, is one of the conference's best three-point shooters so far this season. He is averaging 2.0 per game (tied for sixth in the WCC) and making 46.4% of them (32-for-69, sixth in the WCC).

2009-10 NOTABLES - The Waves were down 12 to Cal State San Bernardino with 8 1/2 minutes to play but came back to win by three ... The Waves were the team champion at the World Vision Challenge in Wyoming ... Pepperdine's win over Utah came against a 2009 NCAA Tournament team.

2009-10 HONORS - Keion Bell was named to the preseason All-WCC first team ... Bell (26.7 ppg) was named MVP of the World Vision Challenge at Wyoming and Dane Suttle Jr. (15.3 ppg) also made the all-tournament team ... Mychel Thompson was named WCC co-Player of the Week on Jan. 11 after scoring a game-high 22 points and making six of seven three-pointers in a win vs. LMU.

RETURNERS - Four of the five starters from last year's team return (Keion Bell, Taylor Darby, Corbin Moore and Mychel Thompson). Pepperdine's returning players account for 82.5% percent of last year's scoring (1629/1974), 88.3% of the rebounds (919/1041), 65.4% of the assists (223/341), 95.0% of the blocked shots (96/101) and 77.2% of the steals (166/215).

WCC PRESEASON POLL - According to the WCC's coaches, the Waves are predicted to finish seventh in the conference. Their poll went in the following order: Gonzaga, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Francisco and Santa Clara (tied), San Diego, Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Several national publications and websites have differing opinions on the Waves, including fourth (The Sporting News), fifth (The Sports Network), sixth (Athlon and Lindy's) and seventh (Rivals.com, CBSSports.com and CollegeHoops.net).

TELEVISION - The Waves are slated to appear on television several times once again in 2009-10. Six games will be shown locally - Nov. 23 at UCLA on Fox Sports West, Jan. 14 vs. Santa Clara on ESPNU, Jan. 21 at Gonzaga on Prime Ticket (delayed), Jan. 30 vs. San Diego on Prime Ticket, Feb. 18 vs. Portland on Prime Ticket and Feb. 20 vs. Gonzaga on Fox Sports West.

YOUTUBE SENSATION - Keion Bell, a preseason All-WCC first team selection, got Pepperdine a ton of publicity in mid-October. At Blue & Orange Madness, Pepperdine's event to kick off the start of practice, the sophomore guard finished up the dunk contest by leaping over five teammates and slamming it home. A Pepperdine fan happened to record the dunk on his iPhone and uploaded it onto YouTube. It quickly spread around the internet and at last check had nearly 1.1 million hits. ESPN's SportsCenter picked up the video and made the dunk the #2 Play of the Day.

TOM ASBURY - Now in his second stint in charge of the Waves is coaching great Tom Asbury. He returned to Malibu prior to the 2008-09 campaign to become the Waves' head coach again after 14 seasons away. Asbury was previously at Pepperdine for nine years as an assistant coach (1980-88) and then the next six as the head coach (1989-94). He went on to serve as head coach at Kansas State from 1995-2000 and was an assistant coach at Alabama from 2004-07. Asbury went 125-59 (.679) in his first head coaching job at Pepperdine and took the Waves to the postseason five times in six years with three NCAA Tournament appearances (1991, '92, '94) and two in the NIT (1989, '93). Pepperdine won three regular-season WCC titles and the school's only three WCC Tournament championships came under Asbury. Prior to the start of the 2009-10 season, his seven-year record at Pepperdine was 134-82 (.620) and his 13-year record as a head coach was 219-170 (.563).

ASSISTANTS - Upon his return, Tom Asbury wanted to find assistants with a passion for Pepperdine and an understanding of its mission, so he turned to three former student-athletes. It's believed that Duke and Pepperdine have the only two college basketball staffs where the assistant coaches are all alums. Associate head coach Marty Wilson (1985-89) and assistant coaches Damin Lopez (1990-94) and Will Kimble (2001-03) played in three different eras, all successful. In the 13 seasons that made up their playing careers, Pepperdine went a combined 261-135 (.659), had 12 winning seasons, won six WCC regular-season titles and three WCC tournament titles, and made six NCAA Tournaments and four NITs.

ONE RECRUIT - There are no seniors on the roster but Pepperdine had one scholarship to offer for 2010-11. During the early signing period, they inked Hector Harold, a 6-foot-6 small forward from the Northfield Mount Hermon (Mass.) School. He was given a rating of 88 out of 100 by ESPN.com's recruiting site and is considered one of the top seniors in New England. He is originally from Pasadena, Calif.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE - Tom Asbury believes in preparing his team for league play with a difficult non-conference slate of games, and so that's what the Waves did for the first 16 games of the season. The Waves played six games against non-conference teams that took part in the postseason last year: Portland State, UCLA and Utah made the NCAA Tournament, Miami (Fla.) was in the NIT, Wyoming was in the College Basketball Invitational and Pacific was in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Nine of the 16 non-conference games were at home.

LAST SEASON - Tom Asbury's return to Pepperdine brought much-needed stability to the program in his first season back. With only five players returning, Asbury and his new staff brought in 10 newcomers well after the regular letter-of-intent signing period. The young Waves posted a 9-23 overall record but got much better as the year went on, placing sixth in the WCC with a 5-9 record and winning a first-round game at the WCC Tournament. Keion Bell was named to the WCC All-Freshman team after averaging a team-best 12.9 ppg.

PEPPERDINE HISTORY - This is the 72nd season of Pepperdine basketball, and the Waves opened 2009-10 with an all-time record of 1,111-910 (.550). Pepperdine has been to the NCAA Tournament 13 times (last in 2002), and has won 12 West Coast Conference regular-season titles (last in 2002) and three WCC Tournament crowns (last in 1994).

BEST IN THE WEST - Pepperdine has long been one of the top Division I programs on the West Coast. Over the 31-season period from the 1978-79 season through the 2008-09 campaign, of the 32 schools that currently play Division I basketball in California, Oregon or Washington, the Waves began the 2009-10 season ranking third overall in postseason appearances (16) and fifth in both wins (525) and winning percentage (.565) over the past 31 years.

WAVES IN THE PROS - This is the 34th consecutive season where at least one Pepperdine alum has been on an NBA roster. Currently in the NBA is Yakhouba Diawara, now in his fourth season overall and his second with the Miami Heat. A total of 16 former Pepperdine players have gone on to play in the NBA, most notably Dennis Johnson (the 1979 NBA Finals MVP) and Doug Christie (a 15-year NBA veteran who was a mainstay on the All-Defensive Team). Some recent standouts have been playing in foreign countries, including Alex Acker (Italy), Tezale Archie (Netherlands), Brandon Armstrong (Venezuela), Gerald Brown (Poland), Jelani Gardner (Greece), Kelvin Gibbs (Germany), Chase Griffin (Germany), Dana Jones (Switzerland) and Glen McGowan (Dominican Republic). Robert "Hollywood" Turner, formerly a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, is now playing in Finland.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE - Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men's sports - one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine's teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.