MALIBU – The Pepperdine men's basketball squad suffered an 80-63 loss to San Francisco Thursday night after seeing the team's first competition in 12 days.
 
The Waves (7-11, 1-4 WCC) returned to action after last week's games were postponed.
 
BIG WAVES

• Stefan Todorovic (Belgrade, Serbia/SMU/USF) recorded 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals against his former team.
• Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/USC) led the Waves with 17 points on 8-of-12 field goal shooting while gathering six boards and taking two steals.
• Moe Odum (The Bronx, N.Y./Pacific) added on eight points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals.

 
KEY STATS

• While the overall turnover count wasn't egregious (PEPP 14, USF 11), the Dons capitalized more on Pepperdine errors at a rate of 17-4.
• USF outshot the Waves 52.6% to 41.1% from the field and 33.3% to 14.3% from beyond the arc.
• Pepperdine won the rebound battle going for 33 to the Dons' 31.

 
RECAP
Butka struck first on the night, hitting a three right out of the tip-off. San Francisco then had stretches of five and six points between Pepperdine scoring possessions, taking an early 10-point lead. The Waves adjusted with a zone defense but the USF lead flexed around seven and nine points for the rest of the half. Though it helped shut down the Dons' lane, the zone also allowed USF to get hot from three point range, hitting four treys in the last five minutes to head into halftime with a 48-36 lead.
 
The Waves opened the half on a Coulibaly and-1 and Odum completed a three-point play of his own after drawing a foul from long range and connecting on all three free throw attempts to get within six of USF. Scoring stalled for both squads within the opening 10 minutes as fouls plagued Pepperdine and USF pushed their lead out to 16 at the under eight media timeout. San Francisco would stiff-arm the Waves leading to an 80-63 loss.
 
UP NEXT
Pepperdine remains home to invite Saint Mary's on Saturday evening set for a 7 p.m. tip.
 
STAY CONNECTED
Keep up with all things Pepperdine hoops by following the team on X and Instagram and find more about Waves Athletics via @PepperdineWaves on all platforms.