SHUHEI MATSUO
Staff Writer
Despite losing some significant players, including Glen McGowan, Yakhouba Diawara and Alex Acker, this year’s men’s basketball team is full of youth and vitality, with a nationally ranked freshman class that includes Willie Galick, Michael Gerrity, Chris Oakes and Tomas Pranciliauskas.
“We are very happy with the freshman players,” said Head Coach Paul Westphal, who is coaching the Waves for his fifth year. He also said he hopes those new players will adjust to college-level basketball as soon as possible.
The Waves will have one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, facing the country’s No.-2 ranked University of Connecticut as the official opening game Friday, Nov. 18.
“It’s like jumping into a fire from the beginning,” Westphal said. Although it is going to be a tough season, he hopes that there is less injury because there were too many injuries and the players could not play their positions last year, he said.
Like Westphal, assistant coach Patrick Whitlock said he is excited to start a new season with the skilled newcomers.
“We will have some ups and downs because of the freshman players,” Whitlock said, “but all of them are ready to play in college level.”
As in every year, the team’s main goal for the upcoming season is to win the West Coast Conference and advance to the NCAA Tournament, Whitlock said.
Gerrity is one of the freshmen who will look to play a major role as Pepperdine tries to replace three starters from last season’s squad.
“I think we’ve got great potential to be real good,” Gerrity said.
Gerrity described the team as a big family. He said one of the reasons that he decided to come to Pepperdine was the family-like environment in the team.
Another newcomer also said he feels good about the new team and the friendly coaches.
“Every coach has a different flavor, but every one of them is teaching the same thing,” Oakes said.
One of two returning starters, center Russell Hicks, also showed an excitement for the upcoming campaign.
“We have been practicing since this summer, and I feel we are ready to play some games,” he said.
Hicks contributed 4 points, 3.1 rebounds a game in the 30 games he played last year. He also was a force on the defensive end as he led WCC players with 2.62 blocks a contest on the way to being named to the conference All-freshman team.
Like Westphal, Hicks described the team as young and not fully experienced. However, he said the very talented young team could make some upsets against extremely tough competitors.
This year, the Waves will face eight teams that advanced to the post season last year, including five that reached the NCAA Tournament. In one of the toughest schedules in Pepperdine’s history, the team will face Connecticut, Dayton, Colorado State, Kansas, UNLV and Oklahoma State.
Playing against these nationally ranked schools could be a tough campaign for the Waves. However, as the coaches and players said, the team is prepared and thrilled to begin the new journey.
11-10-2005