After starting West Coast Conference play 3-0 the men’s basketball team will look for a little home-court post-Valentine’s Day love to stop a seven-game slide against two of the top three teams in the league.
“Our scoring comes mainly from our perimeter guys and if one or two of them can’t score then we really have some problems Head Coach Tom Asbury said. We don’t want to waiver on one loss or one team. It’s just a matter of getting ready for the next game and positioning ourselves the best we can for the tournament.”
The seven-game tumble hasn’t had much of a bright side beside the narrow loss in Spokane Wash. against Gonzaga; a 91-84 loss that saw sophomore guard Keion Bell score a career-high 37 points fueled by a variety of second-half dunks.
The Waves have lost by an average of 18 points and are 0-10 in road games this year.
The sixth and seven losses of the skid came last week on the men’s Bay Area road trip.
Pepperdine was clobbered by University of San Francisco on the Hilltop 77-47— its second-lowest scoring output of the season.
The Dons used a 21-2 run to close out the first half and USF sophomore Angelo Caloiaro hit five three-pointers in the second half on the way to a career-high 21 points. All-WCC Dons forward Dior Lowhorn continued his strong play against the Waves with 18 points and seven rebounds while Bell struggled going 5-for-21 from the field.
“We have been shooting very poorly Asbury said. When Mychel and Lorne and Keion are scoring we play well but if one or two of them don’t shoot the ball well then we are in trouble. Our big guys haven’t scored at all this year. That is a concern but we can’t fix that much this year.”
On Saturday Bell’s 25 points were not enough as the Waves ended their road trip on a sour note in a 62-54 loss to Santa Clara. Pepperdine shot a dismal 30.6 percent from the field while hitting only six of 22 three-point attempts.
It was Bell’s 13th game with 20-plus points for the season.
Marc Trasolini scored 16 points and nabbed eight rebounds to lead the Broncos (11-17 3-8) who had four players in double figures.
The Waves and Broncos split their regular season series (Pepperdine squeaked by 61-60 in Malibu) for the eighth straight year.
On Thursday the Waves (7-19 3-7) lost by 26 at the Chiles Center in Portland Ore. to the surprise team in the WCC— the Portland Pilots (16-8 7-3). The Pilots compose a fundamentally sound squad (47 percent FGs 39.7 precent from 3-point).
“[Portland] shoots the three so well Asbury said. They are all juniors and seniors and play good basketball.”
On Saturday the Waves will look to wash away lingering memories of not-so-distant home losses to the rival Zags who have won by an average of 21 points the past four years at Firestone Fieldhouse.
“[The Zags are] good; the best in the league Asbury said. Hopefully we can play them just as tough as we did up there [in Spokane].”
Gonzaga (21-4 9-1) comes into the game holding their second-highest ranking ever a No. 9 slot in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll. The Zags have a clear shot at winning the WCC regular season title outright with the 1 1/2-game lead on Saint Mary’s with four games left to play.
The Waves would love to play spoiler.
Both early-start games (5 p.m. and 6 p.m.) will be televised regionally on the Fox Sports networks adding an extra incentive for the Waves to get back on the winning side of things.
“The guys have to realize that when the ball goes up it doesn’t matter if it’s a television game or not Asbury said.
Pepperdine could move into the upper half of the WCC standings if all goes well.
Such ambitions are always important with the bright lights of Las Vegas on the conference tournament only a few weekends away.
