PEPPERDINE AT SANTA CLARA
Date: Thursday, January 23, 2020
Site: Leavey Center (Santa Clara, California)
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: NBC Sports California
Audio: WaveCasts
Series: Santa Clara leads 79-60
Last Meeting: Broncos 79, Waves 71 (2/7/2019 in Malibu)

PEPPERDINE WAVES
2019-20 Record: 9-10
    WCC Record: 2-3
    Away Record: 3-4
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar
Website: www.PepperdineWaves.com
Twitter: @PeppBasketball

SANTA CLARA BRONCOS
2019-20 Record: 16-4
    WCC Record: 3-2
    Home Record: 15-0
Head Coach: Herb Sendek
Website: www.SantaClaraBroncos.com
Twitter: @santaclarahoops

WAVEPOINTS
• The Pepperdine men's basketball team heads back to Northern California and a matchup with Santa Clara on Thursday evening.
• Pepperdine's staff will be taking part in the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers week during Thursday's and Saturday's games.
• The Waves are trying for their first win in the Leavey Center since 2014.
• Colbey Ross was recently named to the Lou Henson Award midseason watch list. He is averaging a WCC-best 7.3 assists per game. Nationally, he's third in total assists (139) and seventh in assists per game. Ross has more career assists than any junior in the country with 557 (second place is 49 assists behind).
• Ross set Pepperdine's career record for assists on December 14 and is now taking aim at the career scoring record. He's moved up to 14th place on the all-time list and is just 296 points shy of the record. The last time out, he passed assistant coach Gerald Brown.
• Ross has scored 20 or more points in four straight games and is averaging 22.5 points in that span.
• The trio of Ross (second in the WCC at 20.2 ppg), Kameron Edwards (third at 16.7) and Kessler Edwards (11th at 13.9) has scored 64.4% of the Waves' points this season. Throw in Skylar Chavez's 10.9 points per game, and that quartet has scored 78.0% of the Waves' points.
• Kameron Edwards has been named one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award.
• Pepperdine ranks first nationally in free throw percentage at 83.2%. Ross leads the WCC at 87.7% and has made 107 free throws, fifth-most nationally.
• Pepperdine has been dealing with missed playing time all season long. The Waves have been without multiple scholarship players due to injury or illness 16 times this season, and have been without four of them in each of the last four games. Only three players have appeared in every game this season.
• Pepperdine returns home on Saturday (Jan. 25) to host Portland at 5 p.m.

WAVECASTS — Thursday's game can be heard online via WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com. Veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein, a 2015 Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, will be behind the microphone (now in his 35th season, this will be his 1,057th consecutive broadcast for the Waves).

WATCH — In Southern California (and other non-televised markets), fans will have the opportunity to watch the game online via the WCC Network. It will be televised by NBC Sports California, ROOT Sports Northwest, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, AT&T SportsNet Southwest and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh. Krista Blunk and Mike Montgomery are the announcers.

COACHES VS. CANCER — The American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) have teamed up in the fight against cancer. Their annual Suits and Sneakers week is January 20-26. Every year, college, high school and youth teams across the country do their part to raise funds and awareness. In 25+ years of the event, more than $125 million has been raised.

PEPPERDINE — 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 18 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). The Waves have produced 205 conference championships, 318 All-Americans and 53 Olympians. Located in scenic Malibu, California, 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 #50 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.