Game Notes

MALIBU, Calif. -- The Pepperdine men's basketball team gets to play in "The World's Most Famous Arena" on Saturday as the Waves are set to meet Richmond in Madison Square Garden as part of the Gotham Classic. The Waves are 2-0 in the event thus far after beating South Alabama and Howard at home. Saturday is the showcase doubleheader with North Carolina State and West Virginia in the nightcap.

At 7-2, Pepperdine is off to its best nine-game start since the 2004-05 season (the last time the Waves recorded a winning season). A victory against Richmond would give Pepperdine its best record after 10 games since 1999-2000.

After Christmas, the Waves conclude the four-game Gotham Classic with a home contest against IUPUI on December 27. That's the final non-conference game for Pepperdine, which opens West Coast Conference play on December 29 at rival Loyola Marymount.

GAME #10 -- Saturday (December 20) at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y.: Pepperdine (7-2) vs. Richmond (5-4) at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.

WAVECASTS -- A live audio broadcast of the Richmond contest will be free to all users at www.pepperdinesports.com. Veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein is behind the microphone (now in his 30th season, he has a streak going of 885 consecutive broadcasts).

ESPN3 -- The game against Richmond at Madison Square Garden can be viewed online via ESPN3. Doug Sherman and Bob Knight are the announcers.

SOCIAL MEDIA -- On Twitter, get the latest news on the men's basketball program at @PeppBasketball and follow our coaches at @MartyWilson4, @CoachMarkAmaral, @Coach_BMoore and @jimpelman. You can also like the Pepperdine Men's Basketball and/or Pepperdine Athletics pages on Facebook, and both PepperdineHoops and PepperdineWaves on Instagram.

MOBILE APP -- Pepperdine Athletics has launched a newly revised mobile app for iPad, iPhone and Android users. The app is free to download and features live video and statistics, news stories, rosters and more. Go to your app store and search for "Pepperdine Athletics."

TICKETS -- For the majority of home games, men's basketball single-game tickets cost $20 (reserved), $15 (adult general admission) or $5 (child general admission). Premium games (Gonzaga and BYU) have different pricing plans. Tickets can be purchased through the Pepperdine ticket office (866-WAVE-TIX) or online via pepperdinesports.ticketforce.com.

GOTHAM CLASSIC -- The Gotham Classic, which was first held in 2012, features seven teams playing a series of games from December 13-27. Pepperdine and Richmond will both host three games as well as meet in the first game of the showcase doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on December 20. The nightcap features North Carolina State and West Virginia. Five teams (Pepperdine, Howard, IUPUI, Richmond, South Alabama) are playing a round-robin series. The Gotham Classic is produced by the Gazelle Group.

RICHMOND -- Pepperdine won the only previous meeting against Richmond, and it also took place at a neutral site. At the Stanford Invitational on Dec. 16, 2002, the Waves prevailed 83-77. The Spiders were picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll. Kendall Anthony, who leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game, was named to the preseason all-league first team. Alonzo Nelson-Ododa was predicted to be an all-defensive player in the Atlantic 10. Richmond is also 2-0 in the Gotham Classic. Like the Waves, the Spiders have home wins over Howard and South Alabama. Richmond is 5-0 at home but 0-4 on the road so far this season.

LAST GAME -- Amadi Udenyi scored a career-high 16 points and Stacy Davis recorded another double-double (18 points and 11 rebounds) as the Waves overcame a cold shooting night to defeat Howard, 53-45, on Wednesday in Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves struggled against the Bison's aggressive zone defense and had to withstand a 7 1/2 minute-scoreless drought during the second half. During that time, Howard cut Pepperdine's nine-point lead to one with less than eight minutes to play, but Udenyi made several big plays down the stretch to secure the win.

DAVIS -- Junior forward Stacy Davis should soon be recognized as one of the best players on the West Coast. The 2014-15 preseason All-WCC first team selection averaged team highs of 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds as a sophomore last season en route to All-WCC first team honors. He was also the WCC's Newcomer of the Year as a 2012-13 freshman. This year, he's averaging team bests of 16.8 points (#7 in the WCC) and 9.1 rebounds (#2 in the WCC).

Davis has a streak of 19 straight games scoring in double-figures dating back to last season, and has done it 52 times overall as a Wave. He scored a season-high 26 points at Arizona State in his first college game back in his home state. Davis has 15 career double-doubles (three this season) and the Waves have won their last nine games when he records one.

Davis has a career total of 957 points and will soon become Pepperdine's 38th 1,000-point scorer. If his junior and senior seasons end up comparable to his sophomore year, Davis would become the school's all-time leading scorer. He's also on a pace to finish among the top five rebounders in school history and as one of its most prolific free throw shooters.

RAINES -- Junior forward Jett Raines started as a freshman, then backed up UCLA transfer Brendan Lane as a sophomore. He's back in the starting lineup and is averaging career highs of 11.3 points and 6.8 rebounds. So far he's posted his first career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds against Cal Lutheran), set a career high for scoring (21 points at San Jose State) and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds twice.

MAJOR -- Sophomore guard Jeremy Major set a Pepperdine freshman record last year with 138 assists (which was also the most by any Wave since 1999-00) en route to WCC All-Freshman honors. Major had 12 assists in a game against Green Bay last year, also setting a record for a Pepperdine true freshman. This season, he's averaging 9.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He's started all 40 games in his career.

UDENYI -- Sophomore guard Amadi Udenyi leads the squad and ranks third in the WCC and 21st nationally in assists (5.9) while averaging 8.3 points this season. He's had a career-high eight assists three times already and scored a career-high 16 points vs. Howard. After starting the first four games, Udenyi has come off the bench since. His playing time hasn't changed much, but his production has actually gone up.

RUSSELL -- Junior guard/forward Atif Russell is playing the best basketball of his college career. In his first 58 games he had only scored in double-figures once (10 points vs. Central Michigan as a freshman). He then moved into the starting lineup and immediately led the Waves in scoring in wins vs. CSUN (career-high 19 points on 5-for-6 three-point shooting) and at Cal State Fullerton (18 points). He also had 11 points at Arizona State. Russell has raised his season average to 9.2 points.

OLDEN -- The newcomer making the biggest impact thus far is freshman guard Shawn Olden. He was a late signee whose only Division I scholarship offer was from Pepperdine, despite the fact that he was Oklahoma's state player of the year and MVP of the state tournament as a senior. Olden has started each of the first nine games and is averaging 8.9 points per game (including a season-high and team-best 17 points at Iowa).

THREE-POINT DEFENSE -- Pepperdine currently ranks number one in the nation in three-point field-goal percentage defense. Opponents have made just 20.5% of their long-distance shots (30-for-146). The most threes the Waves have given up this year is six (South Alabama). The Waves held CSUN to an 0-for-11 mark, the first time an opponent was held without a three-pointer since March 1999 (Colorado).

WINNING NOTES -- Pepperdine's first six victories were all by double-digits (and the seventh was by eight points) ... On average in their victories, the Waves led for 32 1/2 of the 40 minutes ... Pepperdine won its first three games of the season by 15, 15 and 19 points. The last time the Waves won three consecutive games by 15 or more points was February 1994. The last time they did it to start a season was 1991-92 ... Pepperdine's 19-point win at San Jose State was the team's biggest on the road since December 2003 ... Pepperdine had its best record after six games (5-1) and nine games (7-2) since 2004-05 ... Pepperdine's 4-0 start at home is also its best since 2004-05 (the Waves won their first seven in Firestone Fieldhouse that year).

WCC STATS -- Pepperdine ranks first in three-point defense (20.5%), second in free throw percentage (74.6%), second in field goal percentage defense (38.6%), second in scoring defense (62.6), third in assists (16.0) ... Stacy Davis is seventh in scoring (16.8), second in rebounding (9.1), ninth in free throw percentage (81.5%), ninth in minutes played (31.9) ... Jett Raines is fifth in rebounding (6.8) ... Amadi Udenyi is third in assists (5.9), third in assist/turnover ratio (2.8) ... Jeremy Major is sixth in steals (1.4), eighth in assists (4.0) ... Atif Russell is tied for third in three-point percentage (47.8%), eighth in free throw percentage (81.8%).

TURNOVERS -- Pepperdine has committed a season-low seven turnovers in each of the last two games after having double-digit turnovers in each of the first seven games of the season.

ROSTER NUMBERS -- The Waves have zero seniors on the roster in 2014-15. Twelve of the 16 players are freshmen or sophomores. Pepperdine has four juniors, five sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. Eight returning letterwinners (including three starters) accounted for 54.1% of last year's points and 58.7% of the rebounds. Of the 14 players that have seen action this year, seven are returning letterwinners and seven have seen the floor for the first time.

NON-CONFERENCE NOTES -- Six home games, trips to 2014 NCAA Tournament teams Iowa (11/24) and Arizona State (12/13) and the Gotham Classic in Madison Square Garden vs. Richmond (12/20) highlight the non-conference schedule ... Fresno State, who the Waves beat in the season opener, made it to the final of the 2014 CBI Tournament.

2013-14 SEASON -- The Waves are coming off their best season in years. Last year's team won 15 games, the most since 2004-05. And after being picked to finish 10th in the WCC preseason coaches' poll, the Waves ended up in fifth place, good for their first top-half finish in the standings since 2004. Stacy Davis gave the Waves their first All-WCC first team selection since 2005, and Brendan Lane was Pepperdine's first WCC Defensive Player of the Year since 2002.

WILSON -- This is Marty Wilson's fourth year as head coach at Pepperdine and his 18th season in Malibu. He has compiled an impressive record here beginning as a student-athlete (1985-89), continuing as an assistant coach (1991-96, which included a brief stint as the interim head coach) and then returning as the associate head coach for three seasons (2009-11) under Tom Asbury. He was then elevated to the position of head coach following Asbury's retirement after the 2010-11 season. Wilson was also an assistant at San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Utah inbetween stints at Pepperdine and has been a Division I coach for 24 seasons. He ended his playing career #5 all-time in assists at Pepperdine with 342 (he's still #9). The team went to the NCAA Tournament twice and the NIT twice in Wilson's four seasons on the court. As a Pepperdine assistant, the team took part in the NCAA Tournament three times and the NIT once.

ASSISTANTS -- All of Pepperdine's full-time staff is back this season. Associate head coach Mark Amaral and assistant coach Bryant Moore are both in their fourth seasons. Amaral and Marty Wilson were assistants together at UC Santa Barbara for four years. Moore worked with the Cleveland Cavaliers for five seasons in a variety of roles, including player development coordinator, during the LeBron James era. John Impelman, who was the director of operations for two seasons, was promoted to assistant coach before last season. Impelman is the great-grandson of UCLA coaching legend John Wooden. Jon Pastorek, previously a graduate manager, is in his second season as the director of operations.

WCC POLL -- The Waves were picked to finish in a tie for seventh place in the WCC in the coaches' preseason poll. It went in the following order: Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Pepperdine and Santa Clara (tied), Loyola Marymount and Pacific. In each of the last six years, Pepperdine has finished better than predicted in this poll (coinciding with when Marty Wilson came back to the program).

RECRUITING -- Pepperdine landed one recruit during the fall signing period. Kameron Edwards of Etiwanda (Calif.) High School will join the Waves in 2015-16. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 13.6 points and a team-best 7.2 rebounds on one of the state's top teams as a junior. He was named to the All-CIF Southern Section Open Division second team.

PEPPERDINE BASKETBALL -- This is the 77th season of Pepperdine men's basketball, and the 42nd season that the Waves have called Firestone Fieldhouse home. The Waves began the campaign with an all-time record of 1,167-1,008 (.537). 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). William "Bird" Averitt led the nation in scoring in 1972-73 with 33.9 points per game.

WAVES IN THE PROS -- Pepperdine once had a streak of 34 consecutive seasons with at least one Pepperdine alum on an NBA roster, which began in 1976-77 after the ABA/NBA merger and ended in 2010-11. Seventeen former Pepperdine players have seen action in the NBA, a list that includes notables such as Dennis Johnson (a 2010 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, the 1979 NBA Finals MVP and a three-time NBA champion) and Doug Christie (a 15-year NBA veteran who was a mainstay on the All-Defensive Team). Two Waves -- Yakhouba Diawara (2012/France) and Marcos Leite (1972, 1980, 1984/Brazil) -- competed at the Olympics. Mychel Thompson is the most recent Wave to play in the NBA, appearing in five games for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2011-12 after making the squad as an undrafted free agent. He is currently in the NBA's D-League with Santa Cruz.

UNIVERSITY EVENTS CENTER -- A key piece in the Campus Life Project, which will benefit the entire university, is a new, state-of-the-art, 5,000-seat University Events Center. The proposed venue will someday replace Firestone Fieldhouse as the Waves' home. The project has been approved by the County of Los Angeles and the California Coastal Commission, so the biggest step remaining before the arena can be built is fundraising.

2013/2015/2018 NCAA WEST REGIONALS -- Pepperdine University was the host institution for the 2013 West Regional of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and will do so again in 2015 and 2018. The Waves partnered with AEG/Staples Center and the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission to bring NCAA postseason basketball to the City of Angels for the first time since 1994.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY -- Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports -- one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat -- and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.