SAN FRANCISCO – The Pepperdine men's basketball team will play San Francisco at War Memorial Gymnasium Saturday evening in the team's last true road game of the season.
 
GAME #30: Pepperdine (12-17, 5-9 WCC) at San Francisco (21-7, 10-3 WCC) | Saturday, Feb. 24 | War Memorial Gym | 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. Listen live on the audio-only WaveCast as Pepperdine Hall of Famer Al Epstein continues his streak of 1,189-straight men's basketball broadcasts in his 39th season on the call.
 
LAST TIME OUT - Pepperdine held its lead over Pacific throughout the entire 40 minutes Wednesday night and saw career-bests from Michael Ajayi and Malik Moore as the Waves rolled to an 89-70 win in Stockton Wednesday night. Ajayi earned his 14^thdouble-double, which moved him up the Pepperdine single-season leaderboard to fifth, tying Dana Jones (1992-93) and Moore recorded 20 points for a new career high in that category. The win was the Waves' third in five outings.
 
AJAYI ON THE DOUBLE - Michael Ajayi recorded his 14th double-double on 30 points and 17 rebounds Wednesday night which moved the junior up the Pepperdine single-season double-double leaderboard to tie Dana Jones (1992-93) at fifth place. His next double-double instance would put Ajayi tied for third with Jones (1993-94) and Stacy Davis (2015-16) at 15-total.
 
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 15.1 points and 5.8 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 third on the Pepperdine season box score in scoring, pouring in 15 points per game. The junior is also fifth in the WCC in the same category and in three-pointers per game with 2.2. Mallette has totaled 1,276 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 games and immediately providing a spark. 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, scoring eight points in consecutive offensive plays capitalized by a steal and breakaway dunk. Since then, Stansberry has averaged a .520 clip from field goal range and 42.1% from beyond the arc.
 
WAVES VS WCC - Michael Ajayi currently ranks in the top five of four different categories in the conference: First in scoring (17.7 PPG), second in rebounding (9.5 RPG) and fourth in field goal percentage (.467) and fourth in minutes (34.3 MPG). Houston Mallette also ranks in the top 10 for the following WCC categories: Fifth in scoring (15.0 PPG) and in threes per game (2.2) as well as fourth in free-throw percentage (.816) and eighth in field goal percentage (.432). As a team, the Waves shoot 36.1% from beyond the arc which is good for first in the conference and pull down an average of 10.2 offensive boards for fourth in the league.
 
ON THE DONS - Sitting third in the WCC, San Francisco most recently saw a six-game winning streak snapped in a close contest at Saint Mary's. The usually rebound-heavy Dons were outdone by the Gaels on the glass pulling down only 23 to SMC's 36 in a game where USF had the upper hand in shooting accuracy. Forward Jonathan Mogbo leads the team in scoring (14.9) and rebounds (10.3)– a stat where he also leads the conference. He also holds the reins as the Dons' leader in steals, going for 1.8 per game.
 
Back in Firestone on February 8, Pepperdine stayed competitive against San Francisco in a bout that saw six lead changes but the Dons ran away with an 80-74 win. The Waves matched USF in rebounds (33 each) and turnovers (nine each) but the Dons controlled the paint to eke out the six-point win. Jevon Porter led Pepperdine with 21 points and nine boards, followed by Houston Mallette with 19 points on 5-of-6 field goal shooting.