MALIBU, Calif. — Pepperdine men's basketball (4-8) will play its final non-conference game Saturday, playing host to the Rice Owls (6-6) at 6 p.m. from Firestone Fieldhouse.

Al Epstein and Joey Vergilis will have the call on ESPN+, with live stats available here.

The game is the second game of a doubleheader at Firestone Fieldhouse, with Pepperdine women's basketball taking on CSUN at 1 p.m. Tickets for the game are available for purchase here, with a 2-for-1 special which grants a ticket to both games for $20 available here. Holiday Hoops festivities will feature Gingerbread decorating in the lobby and Santa hats for Jr. Waves Club members.
 

LAST TIME OUT

• Pepperdine fell by a score of 81-78 at Long Beach State Thursday night. 
• Styles Phipps notched a career-high 25 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.
• Javon Cooley added 17 points off the bench featuring a 7-for-9 mark from the field.
• The Waves shot 58.5% from the field in the game, converting 31 of 53 field goal attempts.
• Pepperdine posted a season-high in field goal percentage and three-pointers made (8) against a Division I opponent. 

GAME NOTES

• Pepperdine currently ranks 14th in the country in free throw percentage at .782.
• The mark ranks third in the WCC, as the Waves have converted 179 of 229 attempts from the charity stripe this season.
• The Waves have shot over 70-percent from the line in seven of the past eight games, knocking down 17-of-20 against Vermont and 23-for-26 at Cal State Fullerton.
• Pepperdine has shot over 50% from the field in three games this season.
• The Waves currently rank third in the WCC with 12.2 offensive rebounds per game.
• Styles Phipps is one of three players in the country averaging over 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and five assists per game (Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State / Quion Williams, Arkansas-Pine Bluff).
• Phipps scored a career-high 25 points against Long Beach State last time out on 10-for-15 shooting from the field.
• Phipps currently third in the WCC in assists per game at 5.4.
• Phipps is the only player in the WCC to have both a points/rebounds double-double and points/assists double-double this season.
•  Phipps ranks 8th in the conference with 25 offensive rebounds this season, while Pavle Stosic ranks second on the team with 20 and 1.9 offensive boards per game.
• Javon Cooley is the Waves leading scorer at 13.2 points per game while being second on the squad with 5.3 rebounds per game.
• Javon Cooley ranks 13th in the country with a .940 clip from the line.
• Cooley has posted 17 points in back-to-back games, totaling a 13-for-18 mark from the field over that span.
• Cooley is one six players in the WCC to rank top-20 in scoring and rebounding in the conference.
• Aaron Clark ranks 15th in the West Coast Conference with 13.6 points per game.
• Clark is one of two players in the WCC to be averaging at least 13.5 points per game, 3 rebounds per game, 3 assists per game and 1.5 steals per game (Joel Foxwell, Portland)
• Danilo Dozic has posted a pair of 20-point efforts this season and is tied with Cooley for the team-lead in three-pointers made with 17.
• Dozic currently ranks 25th in the WCC in scoring at 11.9 points per game.
• Yonatan Levy posted eight points and six rebounds against Long Beach, knocking down two of three looks from distance.
• It marked the first game this season in which Levy hit on multiple looks from three. Levy has recorded 4.8 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game while starting nine of 12 contests.
• Pavle Stosic has drawn six straight starts in the frontcourt and has posted 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this season.
• Luka Vudragovic has helped the Waves bench scoring this season at 5.6 points per game with multiple makes from distance in three efforts.
• The Waves are one of two teams in the West Coast Conference to have four players averaging 11 points per game or more (Clark, Cooley, Dozic, Phipps).

SERIES HISTORY

• The Waves hold a 3-2 record against the Owls in the all-time series.
• This marks the Owls third-ever trip to Malibu, with the Waves winning the first two matchups in 1981 and 2022.
• The series dates back to the 1945-46 season, as the Waves won the first-ever meeting by a score of 48-35 at a neutral site in Oklahoma.
• The teams split a home-and-home series in 2021-22 and 2022-23, as the Waves will make a return trip to Houston in 2026-27.

SCOUTING THE OWLS

• Rice enters play with a 6-6 overall record.
• The Owls were selected to finish 12th in the preseason American Poll.
• The team enters on a four-game winning streak, featuring wins over Oral Roberts, Texas State and Arkansas State.
• Rice is led by the trio of Nick Anderson, Trae Broadnax and Jalen Smith who each average over 12.9 points per game.
• The Owls sit second in the American in three-point percentage (.380) which also ranks 40th nationally.

The Waves will return on Sunday. Dec. 28, hosting No. 7 Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference opener at 5 p.m. from Firestone Fieldhouse.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Pepperdine men's basketball has made 13 NCAA postseason appearances while earning 12 WCC Regular-Season Championships and three WCC Tournament Championships in its history. This success has spanned multiple decades, with the Waves most recently winning the 2021 CBI Tournament. The program has also seen 19 All-Americans along with 19 NBA players, which included a streak of 34 consecutive seasons with at least one alum on an NBA roster from 1976-2011.

TICKETS
For more information on ticket packages and to purchase tickets for upcoming home events, visit here.

FOLLOW
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