SECOND ROUND: Pepperdine (10-21, 4-14 WCC) vs. Portland (12-19, 7-11 WCC) | Friday, Mar. 7 | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
 
COVERAGE: The first three rounds of the men's tournament and the first five rounds of the women's tournament will be broadcast on ESPN+. ESPN2 and ESPN will televise the quarterfinals and semifinals of the men's tournament, and the championship games of both the men's and women's tournaments. The audio-only Wavecast will feature Hall of Famer Al Epstein as he continues his streak of 1,224-straight men's basketball broadcasts in his 40th season on the call.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Waves celebrated their seniors Saturday night but couldn't get the win, falling 90-83 to Washington State in the Waves' final regular-season contest. Zion Bethea scored a team-high 22 points while pulling down three boards and snatching two steals. Dovydas Butka had 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Moe Odum contributed another double-double with 14 points and 11 assists.
 
BOARD BUDS: Pepperdine currently ranks fourth in the WCC for rebounds per game (35.5), largely due to the efforts of Butka and Coulibaly who average 6.6 and 7.0 per game. Butka ranks 12th in the WCC for rebounding average and Coulibaly sits at ninth, while the latter also leads the conference in blocks per game (1.7).
 
CHEF TODOROVIC: Sitting second the WCC in scoring, Stefan Todorovic has recorded two of the top 10 scoring outputs in the conference with his 33 and 32 points against UC San Diego and Long Beach State respectively. The Serbian sits 10th in the WCC in field goal percentage (.436), third in free throw percentage (.848) and 11th in threes per game (1.9). Todorovic was also named to the All-WCC honorable mention team earlier this week.
 
SHARING THE WEALTH: Averaging over seven assists per game, junior Moe Odum has passed his way into the Pepperdine leaderboard for collective assists in a single season at 227, standing alone at third place all-time. Currently, he stands fourth in the country for total assists this season, sixth for assists per game and second in the WCC in the same category (7.3 apg).
 
SERIES VS. THE PILOTS: 68-44 overall, 37-16 home, 26-26 away, 5-2 neutral. During the teams' previous two meetings, Pepperdine held steady with the Pilots but fell in both contests 84-64 and 87-67. Winners of five of their last eight, the Pilots put two players on the All-WCC teams, seeing Max Mackinnon earn second team honors and Austin Rapp win Freshman of the Year. Dovydas Butka led the Waves in each of the two regular-season matchups, earning a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double in Malibu and scoring 18 points in Portland. With a win, Pepperdine would face Oregon State in the third round Saturday at a 6 p.m. tip-off.
 
SCHILLING & COMPANY: Beginning his first campaign as the Waves' head coach, Ed Schilling has gathered a cabinet of assistant coaches with several decades of coaching experience at all levels of the sport, ranging from Power 5 schools to success at the NAIA, junior college and high school levels.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The 2024-25 roster features 12 new faces and just two returners in Boubacar Coulibaly and David Mager. Seven of the 12 transferred in to Pepperdine while four are true freshmen. The roster is also significantly older than in years past, seeing three graduate students and five upperclassmen.
 
PRO WAVES: Revered Wave Doug Christie is currently the interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Maxwell Lewis was the 40th pick in the 2023 Draft and earned big minutes in the NBA Summer League. Kessler Edwards began his professional career with the Brooklyn Nets who drafted him at 44th in 2021 but has since been traded to the Sacramento Kings and now resides on the Dallas Mavericks roster. Pepperdine's record-holder for scoring and assists Colbey Ross currently plays for Pallacanestro Trieste– one of the top teams in Italy.
 
CATCH THE WAVES: Season tickets for Pepperdine men's and women's basketball are currently on sale at PepperdineWaves.com/Tickets with single-game purchases to become available October 25. Season ticket prices begin at $99 and fans have the opportunity to purchase a pass for priority parking near Firestone Fieldhouse for $200.
 
PEPPERDINE BASKETBALL: This is the 86th season of Pepperdine men's basketball, and the 51st year that the Waves have called Firestone Fieldhouse home. The Waves has been to the NCAA Tournament 13 times (last in 2002) and has won 12 West Coast Conference regular-season titles (last in 2002) and three WCC Tournament crowns (last in 1994). The Waves won the College Basketball Invitational in 2021.
 
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