MALIBU - The Pepperdine men's basketball team heads to Portland this weekend for the team's lone game of the week, set to start at 5 p.m. in the Chiles Center.
 
GAME #24: Pepperdine (9-14, 2-6 WCC) at Portland (7-15, 1-6 WCC) | Saturday, Feb. 3 | Chiles Center | 5 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 1,183-straight men's basketball broadcasts in his 39th season on the call.
 
LAST TIME OUT – The Waves hung tough with its competition last Saturday evening but suffered a last-second heartbreaker against San Diego, falling 69-67 to the Toreros in Firestone. USD hit a step-back elbow jumper with one second left in the game and the Waves' half-court shot fell just short of a miracle as time ran out to end the game.
 
AJAYI ON THE DOUBLE - Michael Ajayi recorded his 11th double-double at San Diego on January 13th and is ninth 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.
 
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 14.1 points and 5.9 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 15.3 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 2.3. Mallette has totaled 1,192 points in his three years in Malibu.
 
WAVES VS WCC - Michael Ajayi currently ranks in the top of four different categories in the conference: First in scoring (17.4 PPG), second in rebounding (9.2 RPG) and sixth in field goal percentage (.467) and third in minutes (33.7 MPG). Houston Mallette also ranks in the top 10 for the following WCC categories: Fifth in scoring (15.3 PPG) and third in threes per game (2.3) as well as fifth in free-throw percentage (.803) and eighth in field goal percentage (.408). As a team, the Waves shoot 34.8% from beyond the arc which is good for fourth in the conference and pull down an average of 10.7 offensive boards for fourth in the league.
 
ON THE PILOTS - Portland started off the 2023-24 season on a three-game win streak but its nonconference record ended at a 6-11 mark. In WCC play, the Pilots opened up the new year with a 78-64 win over Pacific before beginning their current six-game slide against their first half of conference opponents. Most recently, UP fell 76-64 to San Francisco in Portland in a contest that saw the home team gather more rebounds than the usually board-heavy Dons but committed almost twice as a many turnovers as USF. Vukasin Masic led the Pilots with 22 points on 8-of-15 field goal and 3-of-4 three-point shooting, while Bol Dengdit accrued 13 rebounds in a team-high effort.
 
Veteran Tyler Robertson leads Portland in scoring, going for 16.6 points per game while freshman Tyler Harris contributes 11.8 points and leads the squad in boards with 7.3 per game.
Last season, the Waves and Pilots split the series with each team winning on their home court. In the game that tilted the Waves' favor, Jevon Porter hit a short jumper on a baseline inbounds play with less than a second left to play in the game's second overtime period to win 94-93.
 
UP NEXT – Pepperdine will return home next Thursday to take on San Francisco at 8 p.m. on ESPNU before heading down PCH to entice LMU on Saturday set for 6 p.m.