Game Notes

MALIBU, Calif. -- The highly anticipated 78th season of Pepperdine men's basketball gets underway this Friday with a road contest at Fresno State. With 12 letterwinners and more than 97% of the scoring coming back from last year's squad, which won 18 games and recorded several best-in-a-decade milestones, expectations are as high in Malibu as they've been in a very long time.

After visiting the Bulldogs on Friday, the Waves' home opener is on Monday against San Diego Christian.

Marty Wilson returns for his fifth season as head coach and senior forward Stacy Davis resumes his climb toward becoming the school's all-time leading scorer.

GAME #1 -- Friday (November 13) at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.: Pepperdine (0-0) at Fresno State (0-0) at 7 p.m.

GAME #2 -- Monday (November 16) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. San Diego Christian (2-0) at 7 p.m.

WAVECASTS -- A live audio broadcast of the Fresno State game will be free to all users at PepperdineSports.com. Veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein, a 2015 Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, will be behind the microphone (now in his 31st season, he has a streak going of 908 consecutive broadcasts).

ONLINE -- A Fresno State-produced webcast will be shown online on the Mountain West Network. Bulldog announcers Paul Loeffler and Randy Rosenbloom will have the call.

TICKETS -- Tickets to Pepperdine home games generally cost $20 (reserved), $15 (adult general admission) or $5 (child general admission), though select premium games have different pricing plans. Tickets can be purchased through the Pepperdine ticket office (866-WAVE-TIX) or online via pepperdinesports.ticketforce.com.

PROMOTIONS -- At Monday's home opener vs. San Diego Christian, the first 500 fans will receive the official 2015-16 gameday t-shirt and all fans can pick up a schedule poster and/or a schedule key tag ... If the Waves score 70 points, fans will receive a free coupon for Duke's Taco Tuesday.

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.

COMPETING WITH PURPOSE -- The Pepperdine University Department of Athletics is committed to Christian values, to the academic well-being of all our student-athletes and to competing for championships. The Competing With Purpose campaign highlights the commitment to our core values that student-athletes, coaches and staff dedicate themselves daily. Learn more about our exceptional student-athletes on the Competing With Purpose blog at www.PepperdineSports.com/purpose.

FRESNO STATE -- Pepperdine leads the all-time series with Fresno State, 15-14. The Bulldogs went 15-17 last season and had a 10-8 mark in Mountain West Conference play. Senior guard Marvelle Harris was named the Mountain West preseason player of the year. He averaged 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals last season. The Bulldogs were picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West in the preseason media poll.

LAST TIME VS. FRESNO STATE -- Back on Nov. 14, 2014, in Firestone Fieldhouse ... Pepperdine got off to a fast start and all five starters scored in double-figures as the Waves beat Fresno State, 89-74, in the 2014-15 season opener. Stacy Davis led the Waves with 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Jeremy Major scored a career-high 21 points. The Waves made 15 of their first 19 shots, including 11 straight makes, to go ahead 34-20 with 7:50 left in the first half. Their biggest leads were 15 in the first half and 17 in the second half.

SEASON OPENERS -- Pepperdine has a 43-34 record in season openers and has won three of the last four. But since 1945, when the season opener has been a true road game, Pepperdine's record is 6-19. The Waves have lost six straight such games since winning at UC Irvine to start the 1997-98 season. In addition to last season, Pepperdine also played its season opener against Fresno State in 1958-59 (a 69-59 home loss).

DAVIS -- Senior forward Stacy Davis is receiving a lot of preseason attention, all of it deserved. The two-time All-WCC first team selection is on pace to become the school's all-time leading scorer and leave his mark as one of the top players in program history.

Davis has been unanimously picked as one of the WCC's top five players in various preseason publications and has been called a dark horse for WCC Player of the Year honors. Lindy's ranked him as the nation's seventh-best power forward in its preseason annual. He's been named to the Lou Henson Award preseason watch list (which honors the nation's top Mid-Major player).

Davis (who averaged 15.7 points and 7.8 rebounds last year) begins the season with 1,307 points and in 20th place on Pepperdine's all-time scoring list. He needs 395 more to pass Dane Suttle for the top spot (a record that has lasted 32 seasons). He's also on a pace to finish as one of the top four rebounders and already ranks fifth in free throws made with 373.

Additional milestones that Davis is chasing: he could become the Waves' first three-time All-WCC first teamer since 1998 (and only the sixth in program history), he could become the first player to lead Pepperdine in rebounding all four seasons and he could become the first Wave to lead the team in scoring and rebounding for three straight seasons.

Davis played with Athletes in Action in a tour of East Asia this summer and also attended an NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Orlando this past April.

RAINES -- Senior forward Jett Raines was one of the WCC's most improved players as a junior and is primed for a big final year. He scored a total of 288 points his first two seasons, then accumulated 340 points (a 10.6 average) en route to All-WCC honorable mention honors.

MAJOR -- Junior guard Jeremy Major is on a pace to become the Waves' all-time leader in assists and finish #2 in steals, as long as he matches his production as a freshman and sophomore. He's the first Wave with back-to-back 100+ assist seasons since 2005.

UDENYI -- Junior guard Amadi Udenyi was leading the team in assists (4.4) last season when he unfortunately ruptured an Achilles' tendon and missed the final seven games. His recovery has gone quicker than expected and he'll be ready to play in the opener.

NON-CONFERENCE NOTES -- Pepperdine will play four home games, including two against 20-win and postseason teams from a year ago in Montana (11/29) and Louisiana-Lafayette (12/18). The Waves' marquee road game is at UCLA (11/19) and they'll also take part in the Gulf Coast Showcase (11/23-25) in Estero, Fla., against a strong mid-major field.

ROSTER NUMBERS -- After a season in which the Waves had zero seniors, the Waves return 12 of last year's 14 letterwinners (one shy of matching the most in school history), including all five starters. Returning players account for 97.3% of last year's points, 95.1% of the rebounds, 96.2% of the assists, 94.4% of the blocked shots, 97.5% of the steals, 97.2% of the three-pointers and 94.2% of the minutes played. This year's 17-man roster breakdown is four seniors, four juniors, five sophomores, one redshirt freshman and three true freshmen.

WCC POLL -- For the first time in recent memory, the Waves have been picked to finish in the top half of the league standings. The WCC coaches' preseason poll had the Waves third behind Gonzaga and BYU. They were followed by Saint Mary's, Portland, Santa Clara, Pacific and San Francisco (tied), San Diego and Loyola Marymount. In each of the last seven years, Pepperdine has finished better than predicted in the coaches' preseason poll (coinciding with when Marty Wilson came back to the program).

2014-15 SEASON -- The Waves posted their best season in at least a decade last year. Milestones from the 2014-15 season: the most overall wins (18) and the first postseason appearance (CBI) since 2002; the first league winning season (10-8), the best WCC regular-season finish (fourth) and first WCC Tournament semifinal appearance since 2004; and the first winning record (18-14) since 2005. The Waves were outstanding defensively, allowing just 61.6 points per game, the program's best scoring defense since 1961-62. The team ended the season ranked #2 in the nation in three-point field-goal percentage defense (a school-record 27.0%).

WILSON -- This is Marty Wilson's fifth year as head coach at Pepperdine and his 19th 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. He recently signed a five-year contract extension that will take him through the 2020-21 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.

WILSONISMS -- Some of these may be borrowed from other programs, but Marty Wilson has several expressions and acronyms he often uses that help define his coaching philosophy. Both Feet In: Players are expected to fully buy in to the program. When Wilson is speaking to the team at center court, everyone must have both feet in the jump circle ... OKGs: Wilson looks to recruit "our kind of guys," student-athletes who will represent Pepperdine well and succeed academically and athletically ... Show Me, Don't Tell Me: Actions speak louder than words ... GID: There isn't always a perfect way to accomplish something, so players just have to "get it done" ... DAT: The Waves use the words "discipline, accountability and trust" as part of a triangle and expect their student-athletes to embrace these ideals.

ASSISTANTS -- Pepperdine's full-time staff has gone unchanged for the third consecutive season. Associate head coach Mark Amaral and assistant coach Bryant Moore are both in their fifth 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 first LeBron James era. John Impelman, who was the director of operations for two years, was promoted to assistant coach before the 2013-14 season. Impelman is the great-grandson of UCLA coaching legend John Wooden. Jon Pastorek, previously a graduate manager, is in his third season as the director of operations.

ACADEMICS -- Marty Wilson takes his team's academics very seriously, and the results have been very good. All 10 seniors that have played under Wilson have graduated. Malte Kramer was Pepperdine's co-Valedictorian and became the program's first-ever Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2013-14. Since Wilson's return to the program in 2008-09, players have earned 11 spots on the NABC Honors Court, 11 WCC All-Academic nods and 24 WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll appearances.

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.

PEPPERDINE BASKETBALL -- This is the 78th season of Pepperdine men's basketball, and the 43rd season that the Waves have called Firestone Fieldhouse home. The Waves began the campaign with an all-time record of 1,185-1,022 (.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). Fun fact: 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. About 10 alums are currently playing overseas.

NCAA WEST REGIONALS -- Pepperdine University was the host institution for the 2013 and 2015 West Regional Championships of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and will serve in that capacity again in 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 25 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 #52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.