MALIBU – After a week at home, the Pepperdine men's basketball team will head to Santa Clara this week for a Thursday night matchup before returning to Malibu Saturday for a date with San Diego.
GAME #22: Pepperdine (9-12, 2-4 WCC) at Santa Clara (14-7, 5-1 WCC) | Thursday, Jan. 25 | Santa Clara, Calif. | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
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 1,181-straight men's basketball broadcasts as he enters his 39th season on the call.
LAST TIME OUT - Shooting woes plagued the Waves last Saturday night as they chopped away at a 19-point LMU lead but eventually fell to the Lions 68-61 in Firestone. Pepperdine was led by
Jevon Porter who supplied his first double-double of the season on 24 points and 12 boards, while five Lions scored in double-figures.
AJAYI ON THE DOUBLE - Michael Ajayi recorded his 11th double-double at San Diego on January 13th and is sixth in the nation for that stat through his first NCAA Division I season. With one more, he would enter the Pepperdine single-season double-double leaderboard where Marcos Leite (1974-75), Ray Ellis (1977-78), Orlando Phillips (1981-82) and Geoff Lear (1989-90) remain tied at ninth all-time with 12 double-doubles apiece. Ajayi is also ninth in the country in total rebounds with 199 so far.
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 13.8 points and 5.7 boards per contest, including a season high of 26 points against Pacific.
MALLETTE MADNESS - The Waves' leader on and off the court,
Houston Mallette sits second on the Pepperdine season box score in scoring, pouring in 15.8 points per game. The junior is also third in the WCC in the same category behind teammate
Michael Ajayi and is third in three-pointers per game with 2.4. Mallette has totaled 1,172 points in his three years in Malibu.
WAVES VS WCC - Michael Ajayi currently ranks in the top five of four different categories in the conference:
First in scoring (17.1 PPG),
second in rebounding (9.5 RPG) and
fifth in field goal percentage (.462) and minutes (33.7 MPG).
Houston Mallette also ranks in the top 10 for the following WCC categories:
Third in scoring (15.8 PPG) and threes per game (2.4) as well as
fifth in free-throw percentage (.795) and
seventh in field goal percentage (.413). As a team, the Waves shoot 35.5% from beyond the arc which is good for
second in the conference and pulls down an average of 11.2 offensive boards for
third in the league.
ON THE BRONCOS - The 14-7 Santa Clara Broncos took down then-#21 Gonzaga just one game after SCU came to Malibu in a 77-76 court-storming thriller earlier this month. Guard Adama Bal drove to the basket and hit a jumper at the rim with just four seconds to play and the Broncos held the Zags on the defensive end to eke out the upset. Since then, Santa Clara has dropped only one contest- an uncharacteristic 24-point loss at home against Saint Mary's in the game following the heroics vs. Gonzaga. The Broncos followed that result up with two wins over Pacific and Portland, with the latter seeing SCU hit the century mark in a 101-86 win. Big man Christoph Tilly led the Broncos with 22 points and eight rebounds on 10-for-12 field goal shooting.
When the Waves and Santa Clara met in the first week of conference play, the Broncos came away with a 78-72 win but Pepperdine played tough through the second half. The game itself saw 15 lead changes and came down to a tumultuous last minute of play where SCU left with a win on icing free throws.
Michael Ajayi recorded his 10th double-double that game on 27 points and 10 boards and the Waves earned more points in the paint than the Broncos at a tally of 30-28.
