Waves Drop Home Contest to UCSB

Saturday, December 19

Malibu, Calif.

3:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

4-4

UC Santa Barbara

4-1

Team	1	2	F
UC Santa Barbara	31	44	75
Pepperdine	23	40	63

Photo by: Martin A. Folb

12/19/2020 5:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Box Score Photo Gallery

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, California – Colbey Ross scored 20 points and Kendall Munson had an impressive debut, but the Pepperdine men's basketball team couldn't overcome a cold-shooting afternoon in a 75-63 home loss to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

The Waves (4-4) never led against the Gauchos (4-1) and shot just 38.6% from the field.

BIG WAVES

Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had his fifth 20-point game of the season and he also had six assists.
Freshman forward Kendall Munson (Seattle, Wash./Garfield HS) scored 16 points in 20 minutes in his first collegiate contest. He went 6-for-7 from the field and also had two rebounds, two steals and a block.
Sophomore guard Robbie Heath (Whittlesea, Australia/Abington HS/West Chester) also had a productive debut with nine points (including 7-for-8 from the foul line).
Sophomore guard Andre Ball (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills HS) provided eight points and a career-high seven rebounds.

KEY STATS

Pepperdine shot 28.6% from the field in the first half, and improved to 48.3% in the second.
UCSB hit on 40.0% in the first half, then 52.0% in the second half, good for 45.5% overall.
Ross went 3-for-6 on three-pointers but the rest of the Waves were 0-for-12. UCSB made nine threes to Pepperdine's three.
UCSB had three players score in double-figures, led by Jaquori McLaughlin's 23 points and eight assists.

PLAY BY PLAY

UCSB jumped out to an 11-2 lead after four minutes. A 6-0 run helped Pepperdine pull within a point at 19-18, but the Gauchos scored 12 of the next 14 points to go up 31-20. It was 31-23 at the break.

The Waves made a couple of runs in the second half to get close, but the Gauchos always had an answer. UC Santa Barbara's largest lead of the game was 14 points at 37-23. The Waves got it down to three points at 44-41, but UCSB scored the next five points. UCSB pushed the lead back up to 10, but the Waves reduced the deficit to two points at 58-56 with 4:46 after two Munson free throws. UCSB scored the next six points, however, and the Waves never got closer than six the rest of the way.

NOTABLES

Two key players left the contest with injuries and did not return. Kessler Edwards went out with 19:15 remaining in the second half. Sedrick Altman departed with 8:33 to go in the game. The Waves were already missing Kene Chukwuka and Victor Ohia Obioha.
UCSB won its fifth consecutive meeting in the series.

UP NEXT

Pepperdine hosts CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday (Dec. 23) at 3 p.m. in the non-conference finale. The game will be streamed online via WaveCasts on the WCC Network with Al Epstein on the call.