Waves, Gauchos Renew Rivalry on Friday in Santa Barbara

PEPPERDINE AT UC SANTA BARBARA
Date: Friday, December 3, 2021
Site: The Thunderdome (Santa Barbara, California)
Time: 7 p.m.
Video: ESPN+
Audio: WaveCasts
Series: Pepperdine leads 38-36
Last Meeting: Gauchos 75, Waves 63 (12/19/2020 in Malibu)

PEPPERDINE WAVES
2021-22 Record: 2-7
   WCC Record: 0-0
   Away Record: 0-3
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar
Website: www.PepperdineWaves.com
Twitter: @PeppBasketball

UC SANTA BARBARA GAUCHOS
2021-22 Record: 3-2
   Big West Record: 0-0
   Home Record: 3-1
Head Coach: Joe Pasternack
Website: www.UCSBGauchos.com
Twitter: @UCSBbasketball

WAVEPOINTS
• The Pepperdine men's basketball team begins December with a trip up the coast to UC Santa Barbara. Then, the Waves close out non-conference play with four of the following five at home.
• Pepperdine last won in Santa Barbara in December 1999 (four straight losses there). UCSB has won the last five meetings overall.
• The Gauchos are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021.
• Led by Houston Mallette's team-best 12.3 points per game average, newcomers have scored 53.9% of the points so far this season. Mallette has a team-best 20 three-pointers and ranks sixth in the WCC (2.2 per game). He's scored in double-figures in three straight games.
• Another newcomer, Mike Mitchell Jr., had team highs of 12 points and four assists in Tuesday's game at Nevada. Mitchell ranks fourth in the WCC in assists (4.4).
• Jade' Smith needs five more steals to break into Pepperdine's all-time top 10.
• Victor Ohia Obioha ranks second in Pepperdine history in field goal percentage (63.4%).
• The Waves were one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country last season and they've been good so far again this year at 76.0% (ranking third in the WCC).
• 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 — UC Santa Barbara will stream the game via ESPN+.

WAVECASTS — Friday'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 1,105th 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.

Waves, Gauchos Renew Rivalry on Friday in Santa Barbara

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Players Mentioned

Houston Mallette

Mike Mitchell Jr.

Victor Ohia Obioha

Jade' Smith

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