PEPPERDINE VS. SAN DIEGO
Date: Thursday, March 3, 2022
Site: Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: Bally Sports SoCal / BYUtv
Audio: WaveCasts
Series: Pepperdine leads 68-46
Last Meeting: Toreros 64, Waves 56 (1/27/2022 in Malibu)

PEPPERDINE WAVES
2021-22 Record: 7-24
    WCC Record: 1-15 (10th)
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar
Website: www.PepperdineWaves.com
Twitter: @PeppBasketball

SAN DIEGO TOREROS
2021-22 Record: 14-15
    WCC Record: 7-9 (7th)
Head Coach    Sam Scholl
Website    www.USDToreros.com
Twitter    @usdmbb

WAVEPOINTS
• The Pepperdine men's basketball team will be the #10 seed at the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament and the Waves will take on #7-seed San Diego in the first round. The winner will move on to face Portland on Friday.
• The Waves and Toreros are meeting for the 13th time at the WCC Tournament. That's the most matchups against any one opponent for Pepperdine at the event.
• Pepperdine has won at least one game at four straight WCC Tournaments, and six of the last seven. The Waves, who have won three WCC Tournament titles in their history, reached the semifinals in two of the last three years.
• The Waves have had just seven to nine players available down the stretch due to injuries and illnesses.
• Pepperdine's impressive quartet of freshmen has accounted for 48.9% of the team's points this season. In league games only, the Waves had three of the league's top five scoring freshmen. Houston Mallette (15.9) edged Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren (15.6) for the top spot, while Maxwell Lewis (12.5) was third and Mike Mitchell Jr. was fifth (9.9).
• Mallette has set the school's freshman record for three-pointers in a season with 69. That also ranks 10th by any Wave in a season. He's had five 20-point games in the last six contests and has averaged 24.0 points in that span, including a 31-point effort vs. BYU, which ranks #4 on Pepperdine's single-game list by a freshman. Mallette has made a three-pointer in 25 straight games, the fifth-longest streak in Pepperdine history. He's 10th in the WCC in overall scoring (13.7 ppg).
• Mitchell ranks second in the WCC in assists (4.8) and is second on Pepperdine's freshman assists list (148).
• Last season, the Waves won the 2021 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

GAME #32 — Thursday (March 3) at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada: #10-seed Pepperdine (7-24, 1-15) vs. #7-seed San Diego (14-15, 7-9) at 8 p.m.

GAME #33 — If Pepperdine wins ... Friday (March 4) at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada: #10-seed Pepperdine vs. #6-seed Portland (17-13, 7-7) at 8 p.m.

WAVECASTS — All Pepperdine WCC Tournament games, men's and women's, 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. Thursday will be his 1,127th consecutive men's basketball broadcast for the Waves.

WATCH — BYUtv will produce and broadcast the early rounds of the tournament. Thursday's game will also be televised locally on Bally Sports SoCal, and elsewhere on Bally Sports San Diego, NBC Sports California and ROOT Sports Northwest. The game can also be streamed online through the WCC Network. Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler are the broadcasters.

WCC TOURNAMENT HISTORY — Pepperdine won WCC Tournament titles in 1991, 1992 and 1994 (all under former head coach Tom Asbury). Now in the 36th tournament, the Waves have a record of 36-31 (.537). Pepperdine has now won at least one game at 24 of the tournaments, including four straight and six of the last seven. The Waves have played in the semifinals in two of the last three years.

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.