PEPPERDINE AT #1 GONZAGA
Date: Thursday, January 14, 2021
Site: McCarthey Athletic Center (Spokane, Wash.)
Time: 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Audio: WaveCasts
Series: Gonzaga leads 59-31
Last Meeting: Bulldogs 89, Waves 77 (2/15/2020 in Malibu)

PEPPERDINE WAVES
2020-21 Record: 4-5
    WCC Record: 0-0
    Away Record: 0-1
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar
Website: www.PepperdineWaves.com
Twitter: @PeppBasketball

GONZAGA BULLDOGS
2020-21 Record: 12-0
    WCC Record: 3-0
    Home Record: 6-0
Head Coach: Mark Few
Website: www.GoZags.com
Twitter: @ZagMBB

WAVEPOINTS
• After three weeks between games due to Christmas and a COVID-19 pause, the Pepperdine men's basketball team finally begins 2021 and West Coast Conference play with a road contest at #1 Gonzaga on Thursday evening.
• It's the third year in a row that the Waves have faced a top-ranked Gonzaga team. It's the seventh time ever Pepperdine that has taken on the nation's #1 team in the AP poll (four losses to USF, two losses to Gonzaga).
• Last season, when Gonzaga led the nation with a +19.6 margin of victory, the Waves played the Bulldogs almost as well as anyone, with losses of five and 12 points.
• Colbey Ross was on the preseason Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy watch lists for National Player of the Year, as well as the Bob Cousy Award watch list for the nation's top point guard.
• Ross is Pepperdine's all-time leader in both points and assists, among many other school records. Among active Division I players, Ross ranks first in career free throws made (562), second in assists (712), third in points (1,934) and fifth in scoring average (18.1). He's tied at #5 on the WCC's all-time assist list with Gonzaga's Josh Perkins.
• Ross is first in the WCC in assists (7.2) and minutes played (38.4) and is second in scoring (19.0). He's eighth nationally in assists per game.
• Kessler Edwards is up to seventh all-time in blocked shots at Pepperdine. He ranks sixth in the WCC in scoring (17.2) and fifth in blocks (1.3).
• Two scoring milestones are upcoming. Ross (1,934 points) will soon become the first player in program history to get to 2,000, while Edwards (937 points) will become the 44th player to get to 1,000.
• Pepperdine is #4 in the country in free throw percentage (81.4%).
• The Waves were picked to finish fourth in the WCC preseason coaches' poll.
• Ross and Edwards were named to the preseason All-WCC team (Pepperdine and Gonzaga were the only schools to put multiple players on the 10-man list).
• Lorenzo Romar is in his third season this time around at Pepperdine, his sixth season in all with the Waves over two stints, and his 24th season as a head coach.

WAVECASTS — The Gonzaga 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 who is now in his 36th season, will be behind the microphone. This will be his 1,079th consecutive men's basketball broadcast for the Waves.

WATCH — The Gonzaga game will be televised on ESPN. Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas have the call.

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). 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 #49 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.