PEPPERDINE VS. #1 GONZAGA
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2021
Site: Firestone Fieldhouse (Malibu, California)
Time: 5 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Audio: WaveCasts
Series: Gonzaga leads 60-31
Last Meeting: Bulldogs 95, Waves 70 (1/14/2021 in Spokane)

PEPPERDINE WAVES
2020-21 Record: 7-7
    WCC Record: 3-2
    Home Record: 6-3
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar
Website: www.PepperdineWaves.com
Twitter: @PeppBasketball

GONZAGA BULLDOGS
2020-21 Record: 16-0
    WCC Record: 7-0
    Away Record: 3-0
Head Coach: Mark Few
Website: www.GoZags.com
Twitter: @ZagMBB

WAVEPOINTS
• Coming off its best win of the season, the Pepperdine men's basketball team has its biggest home game of the year when #1 Gonzaga visits on Saturday.
• It's just the second time ever that Firestone Fieldhouse will have hosted the nation's #1 team in the AP poll (San Francisco in 1977). This is the eighth time ever that Pepperdine will play #1 (USF four times, Gonzaga for the fourth time).
• This is the annual NABC Suits & Sneakers weekend for the fight against cancer.
• On Saturday, Colbey Ross is likely to become the first player in program history, and the 13th in WCC history, to reach 2,000 career points. He enters the contest with 1,994 points.
• 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 assists (750) and free throws made (589), third in points (1,994) and sixth in scoring average (17.8). He's #5 on the WCC's all-time assist list and will next pass San Diego's Christopher Anderson (757).
• Ross ranks #6 in the nation and #1 in the WCC in assists per game (7.4). Ross is sixth in the WCC in scoring (16.5). Ross led all scorers with 19 points in Wednesday's home victory vs. BYU. He scored the game's final three points at the free throw line in the 76-73 win. 
• 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.
• Kessler Edwards is the reigning WCC Player of the Week. He had two double-doubles, scored a career-high 37 points against Pacific and averaged 24.0 points and 10.5 rebounds last week, then had 18 points in Wednesday's win vs. BYU. He is up to seventh all-time in blocked shots at Pepperdine. He ranks fourth in the WCC in scoring (18.3) and blocks (1.3) and sixth in rebounding (6.6).
• Pepperdine is #5 in the country in free throw percentage (80.0%) and #11 in three-point defense (27.7%).

WAVECASTS — The Gonzaga game can be listened to 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 1,084th consecutive men's basketball broadcast for the Waves.

WATCH — The game will be televised by ESPN. Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham have the call.

SUITS & SNEAKERS — Pepperdine's staff has been dressing casually this season, but this week, they're back in suits. That's because this is the annual Suits & Sneakers week put on by the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches and their the fight against cancer. 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.

HOME ATTENDANCE — Per the current COVID-19 guidelines set by the state of California and Los Angeles County, fans will not be permitted to attend home games in Firestone Fieldhouse.

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.