By Lauren Gustus
Sports Editor
After the dust settled, Gonzaga had dropped four spots in the USA Today/ESPN poll to No. 18.
Pepperdine, however, received just one point in the poll, which when compared to No. 1-ranked Duke’s 775 points makes some think that the Waves are fighting an uphill battle for legitimate recognition in national college basketball circles.
The Waves face two conference teams this weekend, Santa Clara and San Diego. The teams played each other twice last week, and they split victories.
Pepperdine travels to Santa Clara today to face the Broncos, a team that stands at 2-2 in WCC play, and is 7-10 overall. On Saturday night, the Waves take to the parquet at the Jenny Craig Pavillion in San Diego, where the 2-2 (WCC) Toreros will have a fat chance of pulling out a “W” against the Waves, who are on a 6-0 winning streak.
The events of this week and those of last beg the question: Will two substantial conference wins this weekend be enough for the Waves to crack the Top 25?
Even with a strength of schedule rating at No. 4 in the nation, few believe it’s likely. Pepperdine has exceeded prognosticators’ expectations so far and even so a common equation has emerged: Pepperdine equals no respect.
So on Friday when Gonzaga point man Dan Dickau had just five points at the halfway mark, you knew that Pepperdine was playing solid defense, double teaming Dickau and forcing him to get rid of the rock.
You also knew that he could exact revenge on the Waves in the second half if he wanted to. But the Waves didn’t let Dickau do what he wanted, and with the help of a raucous Riptide & Co. chanting various unmentionables for the duration of the contest, Pepperdine pulled the rug out from underneath the Bulldogs for an 88-79 victory.
Although the weekend had officially kicked off, there was no rest for the hometown team as they hosted the Portland Pilots a day later.
Coach Paul Westphal said the Portland game was, “The biggest game of the weekend,” and remarked that everything the team had accomplished against the ‘Zags would mean nothing if the Waves couldn’t beat the Pilots, who have yet to win a game in the WCC.
In the second half, forward Jimmy Miggins was the leading scorer for the Waves, eventually scoring a total of 17 on perfect 8 for 8 shooting. He helped the Waves to pull away from a game that was closer than it looked, but ended with a 109-88 Pepperdine win.
Forward Glen McGowan and guard Craig Lewis each contributed 15, with Lewis shooting 50 percent (3-6) from behind the arc. Coky Rochin, Portland’s center, gave Pepperdine’s Cedric Suitt and Rob Turner trouble underneath, scoring a team-high 20 points.
All players got into the game for the Waves, as Gary Colbert and Mike Westphal turned it on at the end of the contest. Colbert set Suitt up for a monster dunk with 3:30 left, as the student section fired up a “Colbert! Colbert!” cheer.
Westphal found nothing but the bottom of the net in a late three pointer to help the Waves pull away from the Pilots.
Despite shooting a stellar 61 percent (16-26) from the field in the first half, the Waves played sloppy with 12 turnovers and couldn’t shake the pesky Pilots, who kept throwing up three pointers to stay in the game.
The score was only 50-43 in favor of the Waves as the teams hit the locker rooms.
In handing Gonzaga its first loss in more than two months, the Waves rode the coattails of superb rebounding and unmatched hustle, perhaps motivated by the scores of student supporters who arrived at the game two hours prior to tip-off to heckle the vaunted Bulldogs.
Devin Montgomery, who was in charge of containing Dickau, hit four consecutive foul shots with 1:25 left to help the Waves go up by 10, 81-71. McGowan also hit key foul shots with 5:00 left, and contributed 19 points on the night. Freshman Terrance Johnson was the leading scorer for the Waves, posting 21 points on 8-16 shooting from the field.
Pepperdine was concerned about the size of the Gonzaga big men, so the Waves made rebounding a priority. They out-rebounded the Bulldogs 47-33. “At halftime I said even though we’re shooting horribly, if we out-rebound them we’ll win the game,” Westphal said.
The Bulldogs played just down the road at Loyola Marymount Saturday night. Dickau, perhaps somewhat frustrated by his performance the previous evening, had 34 points. In the first half.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few didn’t play his star in the second half, as the Bulldogs rolled on to a 90-64 victory.
January 24, 2002