GAME #22 – Pepperdine (7-14) vs San Diego (9-12) | Thursday, Jan. 26 | Malibu, Calif. | WCC Network | 7 p.m.
GAME #23 – Pepperdine (7-14) at LMU (14-7) | Saturday, Jan. 28 | Los Angeles, Calif. | Bally Sports | 8 p.m.
| SAN DIEGO TOREROS |
LMU LIONS |
2022-23 Record: 9-12
WCC Record: 2-5
Away Record: 2-5
Head Coach: Steve Lavin
Website: usdtoreros.com
Twitter: @usdmbb |
2022-23 Record: 14-7
WCC Record: 4-3
Home Record: 9-2
Head Coach: Stan Johnson
Website: lmulions.com
Twitter: @lmulionsMBB |
PROMOS – Thursday's game will serve as Military Appreciation Night as well as the
Coaches vs. Cancer game.
WATCH — WCCSports.com will stream Thursday's game against USD with veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein on the call. Saturday's contest at LMU will be broadcast on the Bally Sports family of networks for those in-region, as well as an audio stream on
Wavecasts.
SURF REPORT
• The Pepperdine men's basketball team invites San Diego to Malibu on Thursday and then heads to LMU for the first round of the PCH Cup on Saturday.
• Sophomores Houston Mallette, Maxwell Lewis, and
Mike Mitchell Jr. make up over half (52.9%) of the Waves scoring output.
• Lewis leads the Waves, contributing 18.8 points per contest as well as shooting 51.4% from field goal range. The forward is also Pepperdine's second-leading rebounder, pulling down 5.8 boards per contest.
• Mitchell Jr. leads the Waves in three-point percentage, shooting 43.8% from beyond the arc while also averaging 10.3 points per game. The sophomore has totaled 102 total assists on the season, good for 4.9 per game.
• Freshman Jevon Porter is the squad's leading rebounder, gathering 6.9 boards per contest while also averaging double figures in the scoring column at 11.4 points per game. Last game was the forward's
fourth double-double of the season, as he accrued 14 points and 10 boards at Portland.
• Among fellow WCC schools, Carson Basham leads the league in blocked shots per game with 1.3 rejections per contest and is
fifth in field goal percentage at 56%. Lewis is
third on the scoring list behind Gonzaga's Drew Timme and LMU's Cam Shelton and Mitchell sits
second on the assists leaderboard just behind Tyler Robertson of Portland. As a team, the Waves are tied for
first with BYU on blocks per game (4.2),
third in field goal percentage (46.7) and
third in defensive rebounds per contest (27.4).
• Lorenzo Romar is in his 26th season as a college head coach. It's his fifth season this time around at Pepperdine, and his eighth overall with the Waves. Romar will be inducted into the SoCal Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022.
SCOUTING THE TOREROS
At USD just two weeks ago, the Waves erased a 19-point deficit, sprinting out to a 16-0 run late in the second half but San Diego kept Pepperdine at an arm's length in the end for a 92-89 final. In that contest, Toreros Jase Townsend and Eric Williams Jr. led USD with 25 and 24 apiece, as Williams pulled down 10 boards for a double-double. The Toreros only shot 36.8% from three-point range and the Waves outshot USD from the field at 56.3% to 52.9%, but lapses in Pepperdine's perimeter defense and late fouls proved costly in the end. Marcellus Earlington, Townsend and Williams Jr. still lead the Toreros in scoring, contributing 15.9, 15.4 and 14.8 points per contest, and Williams Jr. leads in the rebounding column on both USD's stat sheet and the conference, pulling down 9.8 per game.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
In what might have been the biggest win in LMU men's basketball history, the Lions upset then-#6 Gonzaga last week, ending the Zags' 75-game home win streak by a score of 68-67. Cam Shelton hit the game-sealing shot to finish with 27 points and nine boards on the evening, followed by Keli Leaupepe with 11 points and seven rebounds. The Lions locked down defensively, causing Gonzaga to shoot a measly 28.6% from beyond the arc. Shelton leads the Lions overall in scoring, pouring in 18.9 points per game and has dished out 95 assists so far this season. Leaupepe follows suit with 14.2 points and 6.9 boards per contest.
