MALIBU - For the fourth-straight season, the Pepperdine men's basketball team will make the trek up to Spokane, Wash. to open West Coast Conference play against the #24 Zags, set to tip at 6 p.m. at the Spokane Arena Thursday evening.
 
GAME #16: Pepperdine (7-8) at #24 Gonzaga (9-4) | Thursday, Jan. 4 | Spokane Arena | ROOT Sports & ESPN+
 
CCF CLASSIC - Thursday's game will be held in the Spokane Arena- with a capacity of nearly 12,000- in lieu of the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Community Cancer Fund (CCF), who is sponsoring the event, will dedicate donations and proceeds to help support Inland Northwest residents affected by cancer. To make a donation, head to givebutter.com/CCFClassic.
 
COVERAGE - Thursday's game will be broadcast on the Root Sports Network streams via local PNW traditional cable channels as well as online services such as DIRECTV Stream & FuboTV. For those outside of the PNW broadcast area, the game can be found on ESPN+. Fans may also listen live on the audio-only WaveCast as Pepperdine Hall of Famer Al Epstein continues his streak of 1,175th-straight men's basketball broadcasts in his 39^th season on the call.
 
LAST TIME OUT - Four Waves scored in double-figures and Boubacar Coulibaly earned his second-straight double-double in Pepperdine's final non-conference game against Westcliff, where the Waves won 83-47. Jevon Porter also capitalized on being back on the floor with a game-high 18 points on a .437 field goal clip while draining four threes in the process. Coulibaly put together an 11-point-15-rebound effort and maintained his current five-game streak of three blocks per game.
 
AJAYI ON THE DOUBLE - Junior college transfer Michael Ajayi enters conference play leading the WCC in scoring with 17.3 points per contest and sits second in rebounds with 9.5 per game. Ajayi is also ranked fifth in the nation for double-doubles with eight total, only two-shy of the top spot. Should the junior keep at his current pace, he would enter the Pepperdine 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.
 
MALLETTE MADNESS - The Waves' leader on and off the court, Houston Mallette sits second on the Pepperdine season box score in scoring, pouring in 16.7 points per game. The junior is also second in the WCC in the same category behind only teammate Michael Ajayi. Nationally, Mallette is tied at 40th on the total points scored list with 234 total this season after hitting the 1,000-career-point mark back in November. He has totaled 1090 points in his three years in Malibu.
 
NICE TO SEE YA, BOUBA - 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 upon his return. Over the past five games, the Bamako, Mali-native has averaged 9.8 points, eight boards and has helped the Waves immensely around the rim on the defensive end, blocking three shots in each game since his return.
 
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. 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 three games ago, the sophomore has averaged 10.3 points, five boards and 1.3 assists per contest.
 
ON THE ZAGS – No. 24-ranked Gonzaga brings a 9-4 non-conference record into the 96th installment of the Waves/Zags series. The Bulldogs started off the season on a 3-0 streak before taking on 2nd-ranked Purdue, falling 73-63 in the Maui Invitational. They won four more in a row including a ranked win over then-#24 UCLA and highly touted USC before meeting up with in-state rival Washington in Seattle where the Zags were shocked 78-73 by the Huskies. Gonzaga then took on the likes of the defending national champs and then-#5 UConn- also in Seattle- but ultimately fell 76-63 in early December.
 
The Zags most recent outing resulted in an 84-74 loss to San Diego State where forward Graham Ike led the team with a 20-and-10 double-double. The Aztecs held Gonzaga to 42.4% field goal and 26.3% three-point shooting marks and outscored the Zags in the paint and from bench players to defeat the home team last week.
 
Gonzaga's starting five shares scoring fairly equally amongst each other, as Ike leads the team with 14.5 PPG, followed closely by Anton Watson with 14.2, Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard with 12.2 and Braden Huff with 10.5. Ike and Watson also lead the Zags' rebounding effort with 8.1 and 7.5 each.
 
UP NEXT – The Waves return to Malibu Saturday to take on Santa Clara in the latter half of a Pepperdine basketball double-header in which the Waves women contest PCH Cup rival LMU at 2 p.m. and the men take the court at 7 p.m.