MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine men's basketball team will stay home for the first week of 2023, inviting Santa Clara and Pacific to Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday and Saturday. 

GAME #16 — Thursday (January 5) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, California: Pepperdine (7-8) vs. Santa Clara (13-4) at 7 p.m.

GAME #17 — Saturday (January 7) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, California: Pepperdine (7-8) vs. Pacific (8-9) at 5 p.m.

WATCH — Both games will be streamed live on WCCSports.com with veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein on the call.
 
SURF REPORT
• The Pepperdine men's basketball team will look to earn its first two games of 2023 against WCC foes Santa Clara and Pacific.
• Sophomores Houston Mallette, Maxwell Lewis, and Mike Mitchell Jr. make up over half (53%) of the Waves scoring output, as the trio collectively shoots 43.1% from beyond the arc.
• Lewis currently leads the Waves in scoring, contributing 19.4 points per contest as well as shooting 54% from field goal range. The forward is Pepperdine's second-leading rebounder at 5.9 boards per contest. 
• Mitchell Jr. leads the Waves in three-point percentage, shooting 47.4% from beyond the arc while also averaging 11 points per game. The sophomore has totaled 72 total assists on the season, averaging 4.8 per game.
• Freshman Jevon Porter is the squad's leading rebounder, gathering 7.5 boards per contest while also averaging double figures in the scoring column at 10.9 points per game.                                                                                                                                            
• Among fellow WCC schools, Carson Basham leads the league in blocked shots per game with 1.4 rejections per game. Lewis is second on the scoring list at 19.4 just after Gonzaga's Drew Timme, and Mitchell Jr. ranks fourth in three point percentage at 47.4%. As a team, the Waves are second in the WCC in three-point percentage (38.1%), blocks per game (4.9) and defensive rebounds per game (29).
• 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 BRONCOS
Santa Clara enters conference play after a 12-3 non-conference slate, where the Broncos saw success in wins over the likes of Iona, Wyoming, New Mexico State and UC Irvine. All of SCU's non-conference games were played at Santa Clara except for a singular true away contest loss at Utah State and four neutral-site games in which the Broncos went 3-1. Three players average double figure scoring for SCU, with sophomore Illinois transfer Brandin Podziemski leading the way at 18.3 points per game. Podziemski also leads the team in rebounds, collecting 8.4 per contest while averaging a 45.2% field goal percentage. 

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Standing at 8-9, Pacific started off conference play last week falling to BYU on Thursday but defeating LMU in a shocker on Saturday. On the road, the Tigers are 4-2 after besting North Dakota State, North Dakota, UC Davis and Lamar. Leading the way for the Tigers is Keylan Boone at 11.5 points per game, followed by Luke Avdalovic at 10.4 who also shoots an impressive 59.4% from three point range.

2022-23 HONORS — Houston Mallette was named to the league's 10-man preseason All-WCC team. He was one of just two sophomores on the squad. On December 27, Maxwell Lewis was named the WCC Player of the Week, while Jevon Porter was honored as the league's freshman of the week -- the first weekly sweep of awards in program history.

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 20 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, four times (most recently in 2021-22). 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 #55 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.