THE FACTS - The Pepperdine men's basketball team defeated both San Francisco and Santa Clara at home last month, and this week the Waves will try to get the same result on the road. Six games remain in the West Coast Conference regular season, and Pepperdine will play four of them away from Firestone Fieldhouse.

GAME #25 - Thursday (Feb. 11) at the War Memorial Gymnasium in San Francisco, Calif.: Pepperdine (7-17, 3-5) at San Francisco (9-15, 4-5) at 7 p.m.

GAME #26 - Saturday (Feb. 13) at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.: Pepperdine at Santa Clara (10-16, 2-7) at 7 p.m.

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. 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.

SAN FRANCISCO - Pepperdine is 48-65 all-time against San Francisco. The Waves have won three of the last four meetings, including a first-round matchup at last year's WCC Tournament and a 15-point home win last month. The Waves ended a three-game losing streak in San Francisco last season with a 69-67 road victory.

LAST TIME VS. USF - Back on Jan. 16 in Firestone Fieldhouse ... Five Pepperdine players scored in double-figures and had all but two of the team's point total as the Waves rolled to their largest victory of the season, 83-68, against San Francisco. Lorne Jackson scored a career-high 21 points, Taylor Darby tied a career high with 15 points and had his first double-double of the season with 12 rebounds, Keion Bell was just a few stats away from a triple-double (18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds), Mychel Thompson scored 15 points and Jonathan Dupre' had 12 points, all in the second half. Pepperdine led 38-35 at halftime and never trailed in the second half, although it was tied at 59-59 with 7 1/2 minutes left. But Pepperdine outscored USF 24-9 the rest of the way.

SANTA CLARA - Pepperdine is 54-65 all-time against Santa Clara. Although Pepperdine won by one point at home last month, the schools have split the season series each of the last seven years. Santa Clara has won the last four meetings in the Leavey Center.

LAST TIME VS. SANTA CLARA - Back on Jan. 14 in Firestone Fieldhouse ... Lorne Jackson scored a team-high 15 points and made a key defensive play in the final seconds to help Pepperdine edge Santa Clara, 61-60. After the Waves missed two free throws with 5.7 seconds left, the Broncos' Robert Smith raced up the floor but as he neared the basket, Jackson knocked the ball out of his hands as time expired. Despite being outshot (46.7%-41.5%), outrebounded (37-27) and making just nine of 19 free throws (47.4%), the Waves were able to pull it out. They made eight three-pointers and forced 16 turnovers to help put things in their favor. Mychel Thompson and Keion Bell scored 13 points apiece.

LAST GAME - Pepperdine's seven-game win streak against Loyola Marymount came to an end as the Lions won at home, 77-61, on Saturday night (Feb. 6). The Waves had come into the game having won 23 of the last 25 meetings between the two schools. Mychel Thompson led the Waves with 18 points. Like the first time the two schools met, the Waves trailed by 13 points at halftime, but this time around there was no second-half comeback. LMU outshot Pepperdine 50.0% to 35.3%.

PCH CHALLENGE - The newly created PCH Challenge is a season-long competition between local rivals Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. With the help of a win by the women's basketball team on Saturday, the Waves now lead 7.5 to 4.5. A home win is worth one point, while a road victory is valued at 1 1/2 points.

ROSTER - There are no seniors on the 2009-10 squad, and 11 of the 15 players are underclassmen. The roster features four juniors, seven sophomores and four 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 three 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 nearly two-thirds (65.1%) of Pepperdine's scoring. The sophomores have been the top-scoring class in every game but one this season.

THE TRIO - Lately, the Waves have been at their best when Keion Bell, Mychel Thompson and Lorne Jackson are all on. In Pepperdine's seven conference games, they have averaged a combined 45.1 points per game (that's nearly two-thirds of all of the Waves' scoring).

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 19.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He now ranks #2 in the WCC and #33 in the nation in scoring (he ranked as high as ninth nationally in early December). He is the sixth-highest-scoring sophomore in the country. At various points this season, he has been one of just a handful of players in the nation averaging at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Bell has scored more than 20 points in 12 games this season, including a career-high 37 at Gonzaga. He's been in double-figures in every game but three. 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 879). In the WCC rankings, he's also tied for fifth in steals (1.5), sixth in assists, eighth in minutes (32.2) and 16th 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 12.5 points this season (second-best on the team) and 9.8 points for his career. He has broken into Pepperdine's career top 10 in three-pointers made this season (he's now #8 with 131, Tom Lewis is #7 at 132). Since a rough start to his season from beyond the arc (0-for-21), Thompson has made 40 of 89 (45%). He's been in double-figures in eight of the last nine games and is averaging 14.9 ppg in conference play. He scored a career-high-tying 25 points in a win vs. Utah. Thompson's 6-for-7 three-point performance vs. LMU nearly equaled the school record for single-game percentage (6-for-6, 1.000).

LORNE JACKSON - Sophomore guard Lorne Jackson (Simi Valley, Calif./Simi Valley HS) is averaging 11.4 points per game in conference play, and he has seen his overall scoring average increase to 8.7 ppg. He's scored in double-figures in five of eight conference games, including a career-high 21 vs. San Francisco. He's also averaging 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists in WCC games.

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 ... Lorne Jackson was named WCC co-Player of the Week on Jan. 18 after averaging 18.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks in victories over Santa Clara and San Francisco ... Pepperdine has two WCC POTW honors in the same season for the first time since 2004-05, and had its first back-to-back winners since December 2002.

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 ... In the 150th meeting ever with LMU, the Waves came back from a 17-point first-half deficit to post a victory in the first game of WCC play ... Pepperdine beat Santa Clara at home for the 13th time in the last 14 meetings ... Pepperdine started 2-0 in league play for the first time since 2005 and 3-0 for the first time since 2002 (a year that the Waves started 11-0 en route to a 13-1 record and a tie for first in the WCC with Gonzaga) ... At 3-0, the Waves were three games over .500 in league play for the first time since 2004 ... Although it was a loss, the Waves' seven-point defeat at Gonzaga was an excellent effort and gave them their closest margin of defeat in Spokane in the last 10 years.

BELL'S 37-POINT GAME - The 37-point performance by Keion Bell at Gonzaga on Jan. 21 was extremely memorable for many reasons: 34 of the 37 points came in the second half ... He set the McCarthey Athletic Center record for points by an opponent ... Along with his 34-point game vs. Monmouth, he has the two highest scoring games in the WCC this season ... His second-half slam dunk over Gonzaga 7-footer Robert Sacre made ESPN SportsCenter's Plays of the Day ... Bell made 14 of 21 shots, three of four three-pointers and six of eight free throws ... He scored 22 of Pepperdine's first 24 second-half points in an eight-minute span ... The last time a Pepperdine player scored more points was in January 2001 when Brandon Armstrong notched 40 against Loyola Marymount ... It tied as the 24th-best single-game performance in Pepperdine history, and by players other than scoring great Bird Averitt, it was the eighth best.

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.

HECTOR HAROLD - 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.