SAN DIEGO - The Pepperdine men's basketball team continues its first round of conference matchups with a game at San Diego on Saturday evening.
 
GAME #19: Pepperdine (8-10, 1-2 WCC) at San Diego (10-8, 0-3 WCC) | Saturday, Jan. 13 | San Diego, Calif. | 6 p.m.
 
COVERAGE - In a partnership between the WCC and ESPN, all WCC-sponsored sports will be streamed on the ESPN+ app or by heading to ESPN.com/Watch. Listen live on the audio-only WaveCast as Pepperdine Hall of Famer Al Epstein continues his streak of 1,178th-straight men's basketball broadcast as he enters his 39th season on the call.
 
LAST TIME OUT - Bolstered by their best shooting performance of the season, the Waves took care of Pacific 93-78 in Malibu. As a team, Pepperdine shot 56.7% from field goal range and 52.4% from beyond the arc. Jevon Porter led the Waves with 26 points on 11-0f-17 FG shooting while going 3-of-5 from long range, and Houston Mallette supplied 19 points- largely from his 55.5% three-point shooting. Michael Ajayi paved the way on the boards, pulling down seven total and scoring 21 points.
 
AJAYI ON THE DOUBLE - Michael Ajayi recorded back-to-back double-doubles last week for his 9th and 10th respectively. He is third in the nation for total double-doubles and has accrued more games with that stat than without in his first NCAA DI season. Should the junior keep at his current pace, he would enter the Pepperdine single-season double-double leaderboard where Marcos Leite (1974-74), Ray Ellis (1977-78), Orlando Phillips (1982-82) and Geoff Lear (1929-90) remain tied at ninth all-time with 12 double-doubles apiece.
 
PORTER POWER – Sophomore Jevon Porter comes off of a stellar debut season where he started all 31 games for the Waves. Porter shocked the league in double-doubles as well, becoming the only freshman to accrue one and ending the season with eight total. Now since his return from injury, the sophomore has averaged 12.8 points and 4.3 boards per contest.
 
MALLETTE MADNESS - The Waves' leader on and off the court, Houston Mallette sits second on the Pepperdine season box score in scoring, pouring in 16.3 points per game. The junior is also second in the WCC in the same category behind only teammate Michael Ajayi. Mallette has totaled 1,134 points in his three years in Malibu.
 
COOL-LIBALY- After missing the last half of the 2022-23 season and the first 10 games of this one due to injury, redshirt-junior forward Boubacar Coulibaly has made an immediate impact. Since his return the Bamako, Mali-native has averaged 8.4 points, 6.6 boards and has helped the Waves immensely around the rim on the defensive end, averaging 2.3 blocks per game.
 
ON THE TOREROS - After posting a 10-5 non-conference record, San Diego opened WCC play with a tough slate that saw three-straight losses to Saint Mary's, Gonzaga and San Francisco­- three of the top teams in the conference. Through those games, the Toreros averaged 69 points per contest.
The Toreros are led by Deuce Turner who currently averages 14.9 points per game. Steven Jamerson II tops the rebounding line, pulling down 7.5 per game while contributing 6.1 points.
Last season, the Waves fell in both outings against San Diego. Pepperdine tied things up around the eight-minute mark in the last meeting between the two squads, but the Toreros stormed ahead through the last few minutes of play to take the game 87-78.
 
UP NEXT – The Waves invite Gonzaga to Malibu on Thursday before enticing LMU— also in Firestone— on Saturday.