Men's Hoops Opens SoCal Challenge vs. Fresno State

PEPPERDINE VS. FRESNO STATE
Date: Monday, November 22, 2021
Site: JSerra Pavilion (San Juan Capistrano, California)
Time: 10 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Audio: WaveCasts
Series: series tied 15-15
Last Meeting: Bulldogs 69, Waves 66 (11/13/2015 in Fresno)

PEPPERDINE WAVES
2021-22 Record: 2-3
   WCC Record: 0-0
   Away/Neutral Record: 0-2
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar
Website: www.PepperdineWaves.com
Twitter: @PeppBasketball

FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS
2021-22 Record: 3-0
   Mountain West Record: 0-0
   Away/Neutral Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Justin Hutson
Website: www.GoBulldogs.com
Twitter: @FresnoStateMBB

WAVEPOINTS
• The Pepperdine men's basketball team takes part in the inaugural Southern California Challenge, where the Waves will face Fresno State late Monday and then TCU on Wednesday evening.
• Both games will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.
• The Waves are having an extended stay in Orange County, which began with Saturday's contest at UC Irvine.
• Pepperdine and Fresno State each won at home during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, the last two times they met. This is the first-ever neutral site matchup.
• The multi-team event actually began last week when the Waves hosted Utah Valley as the first of three games in the SoCal Challenge.
• Led by Houston Mallette's 13.4 points per game average, five newcomers have scored 50.6% of the points so far this season.
• Another newcomer, Keith Fisher III, had a team-high 13 points in Saturday's loss at UC Irvine.
• Jade' Smith is averaging 11.8 points per game. His best season scoring average prior to this year has been 9.6 in 2018-19. Smith has scored in double-figures in four straight games. He needs 10 more steals to break into Pepperdine's all-time top 10.
• Lorenzo Romar is in his 25th season as a college head coach. It's his fourth season this time around at Pepperdine, and his seventh overall with the Waves.
• The Waves are coming off a season in which they won the 2021 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

WATCH — The game will be shown nationally on the CBS Sports Network. Alex Del Barrio and Tim Doyle have the call.

WAVECASTS — Saturday's 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 37th season, will be behind the microphone. This will be his 1,101st consecutive men's basketball broadcast for the Waves.

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 18 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 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 26 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.

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Players Mentioned

Keith Fisher III

Houston Mallette

Jade' Smith

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