MALIBU - Potential West Coast Conference tournament seeding is on the line for the Pepperdine men's basketball team as they take on Portland in Firestone on Saturday. With a win, the Waves have a higher chance of locking in the #7 seed and would take on the sixth-seeded team on Friday, March 8 in Las Vegas.
 
INDUCTEE POLEE - Two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year and three-year standout for the Pepperdine men's basketball team, Dwayne Polee, will be inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame prior to the contest Saturday evening and will be celebrated on-court during halftime of the game.
 
GAME #28: Pepperdine (10-17, 3-9 WCC) vs Portland (9-18, 3-9 WCC) | Saturday, Feb. 17 | Firestone Fieldhouse | 7 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. Pepperdine Hall of Famer Al Epstein continues his streak of 1,187-straight men's basketball broadcasts in his 39th season on the call. Joining him this season is veteran Waves hoops staffer John Impelman, who begins his broadcast career in the color commentary seat.
 
LAST TIME OUT - The Waves ran out of gas against 18th-ranked Saint Mary's after playing the Gaels tough through most of the first half and they would take the win 103-59 on Thursday night. Jevon Porter led Pepperdine with 13 points while Michael Ajayi contributed 11 points, gathered four rebounds and went a spotless 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.
 
AJAYI ON THE DOUBLE - Michael Ajayi recorded his 13th double-double last Saturday which moved the junior up the Pepperdine single-season double-double leaderboard to tie Marcos Leite (1975-76), Orlando Phillips (1982-83) and Levy Middlebrooks (1986-87) at sixth. With another such performance, he would tie Dana Jones (1992-93) at fifth place with 14 total and two more double-double instances would put Ajayi tied for third with Jones (1993-94) and Stacy Davis (2015-16).
 
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 14.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and earned a season-high 26 points against Pacific on January 11 as well as his first double-double of the year against LMU on January 20 with 24 points and 12 boards.
 
MALLETTE MADNESS - The Waves' leader on and off the court, Houston Mallette sits second on the Pepperdine season box score in scoring, pouring in 15.6 points per game. The junior is also third in the WCC in the same category behind teammate Michael Ajayi and is fourth in three-pointers per game with 2.3. Mallette has totaled 1,262 points in his three years in Malibu.
 
SPARKPLUG STANSBERRY – Redshirt-freshman Cord Stansberry has earned a reputation as the team's energy supplier after entering both games last week and immediately spurring on Waves runs. Against USF, Stansberry hit two dagger threes in the first half to keep Pepperdine close with the Dons while the guard took matters into his own hands against LMU Saturday, scoring eight points in consecutive offensive plays capitalized by a steal and breakaway dunk.
 
WAVES VS WCC - Michael Ajayi currently ranks in the top five of four different categories in the conference: First in scoring (17.2 PPG), second in rebounding (9.3 RPG) and fourth in field goal percentage (.457) and fourth in minutes (34.1 MPG). Houston Mallette also ranks in the top 10 for the following WCC categories: Third in scoring (15.6 PPG) and fourth in threes per game (2.3) as well as fourth in free-throw percentage (.823) and seventh in field goal percentage (.430). As a team, the Waves shoot 34.9% from beyond the arc which is good for fourth in the conference and pull down an average of 10.3 offensive boards for fourth in the league.