MALIBU, Calif. -  The Pepperdine men's basketball team heads to Davis, Calif. to take on the namesake university's Aggies on Thursday afternoon for a 2:30 p.m. matinee. The contest is one of only six non-conference matchups away from home for the Waves this season.

GAME #2: Pepperdine (1-0) at UC Davis (1-0)  |  Davis, Calif.  |  ESPN+  |  WaveCasts  |  2:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT - The Waves most recently won their 13th-straight home opener in a 76-64 final over Concordia University Irvine on Monday evening behind Houston Mallette's 26 points (including shooting 57% from beyond the arc and 50% from the field). Sophomore Malik Moore dropped an additional 16 points on 54.5% field goal accuracy while Ethan Anderson notched 12 points and tallied 5 boards to lead the Pepperdine guards in that category.

ROMAR – Head coach Lorenzo Romar is in his 27^th season as a collegiate head coach. This year will also be his sixth this time around in Malibu and his ninth overall with the Waves. Known around the country for his recruiting prowess, Romar has coached 27 current and former NBA players, including Pepperdine standouts Kessler Edwards (Sacramento Kings) and Maxwell Lewis (Los Angeles Lakers).
 
CONFERENCE CALL – Junior Houston Mallette and sophomore Jevon Porter were named to the West Coast Conference Preseason squad, announced in early October. The last time Pepperdine put two names on the preseason team was the 2020-21 season, in which the Waves' all-time leading scorer Colbey Ross and Kessler Edwards achieved the feat. The honor is also the second-straight such award for Mallette after he became the lone Wave on the preseason team last year. 
 
NON-CONFERENCE NOTES — UNLV will make the trek to Malibu on Friday, November 17 in arguably the biggest home game on the non-con schedule. The Waves will then head to Henderson, Nev. for the inaugural Ball Dawgs Classic where they'll take on the likes of UC Irvine, Indiana State and New Mexico. Pepperdine will travel to two Power Five schools Colorado and Louisville in early December as well.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A…. – Junior guard Houston Mallette is on track to hit the 1,000-point mark this season, as he begins the 2023-24 season with 840 career points. For those following along at home, Mallette (should he keep his scoring record on the same pace as his last two outputs) will hit the milestone midway through the season. In his sophomore campaign, the Alameda-native was the second-leading scorer for the Waves at 13 points per game and dropped double figures 20 times. He also started all but one of the season's 31 contests (averaging a team-high 34.1 minutes) while making a three-pointer in 37 consecutive games - a program record.
 
PORTER PROWESS – Earning looks from the pros, sophomore Jevon Porter comes off of a stellar debut season where he started all 31 games for the Waves. He was one of two Pepperdine players to gather all-conference nods last season where he was named to the All-WCC Freshman squad after gaining three Player of the Week awards. Porter shocked the league in double-doubles as well, becoming the only freshman to accrue one and ending the season with eight total.
 
UNC – Carson-native Ethan Anderson returns home this season to spend his last collegiate year as a Wave. The veteran point guard played his high school days at Fairfax before heading down the road to USC where he graduated in three years. In a Trojans uniform, Anderson averaged 5.2 points, three assists and 2.3 rebounds per game as one of the Trojans' team captains and helped USC to two NCAA tournament appearances (including an Elite Eight run during the 20-22 season as Southern California routed the likes of Drake, Kansas and Oregon en route to an 85-66 loss to top-ranked Gonzaga). Anderson then transferred to Wyoming, where contributed 7.9 points and 4.3 boards per contest. The Waves lovingly refer to him as "Unc" due to his tenured career.
 
PRO WAVES – Following Max Lewis's exit into the Lakers' hands, Pepperdine currently has two former Waves in the NBA. The aforementioned Lewis was the 40th pick in the 2023 Draft and earned big minutes in the NBA Summer League. Kessler Edwards began his professional career with the Brooklyn Nets who drafted him at 44th in 2021 but has since been traded to the Sacramento Kings. Pepperdine's leading-scorer Colbey Ross currently plays for Bucucnost VOLI in Montenegro, one of the top teams in its league.