Don’t look now but somebody is knocking on Gonzaga’s door. No, it isn’t Saint Mary’s, Brigham Young University, Santa Clara or even Pacific. Try your Pepperdine Waves from just down the street.
Behind an ambitious group of young men, the Pepperdine men’s basketball team is 3-1 in the West Coast Conference and quickly gaining respect and attention. Even though it’s early in the season, the Waves are one game behind Gonzaga University which is ranked No. 24 in the country.
Coming off a 12-18 season and 4-12 record in the WCC last year, Pepperdine has rekindled fond memories of its glory years by knocking off San Diego (75-64), BYU (80-74), and Santa Clara (70-61) in succession to begin conference play before falling to San Francisco last Saturday, 76-66.
“Beating a really good team like BYU was big for our guys,” Pepperdine coach Marty Wilson said. “To beat Santa Clara on the road was probably even bigger. The team is really focused. We stayed together and found a way to win. It speaks about our character as a team.”
Pepperdine (10-6) has excelled with a good balance of scoring, rebounding and tough defense. The Waves are holding opponents to 42.9 percent field goal shooting and averaging 73.4 ppg offensively.
The emergence of senior forward Brendan Lane, the strong inside presence of sophomore Stacy Davis and the infusion of newcomers Malcolm Brooks, Jeremy Major and Amadi Udenyi have revitalized the program.
Lane, a transfer from UCLA, is averaging 15.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks shot per game. Combine those numbers with Davis’ 15.1 ppg and 7.7 rpg and you have the making of the best big man duo in the conference.
Lane’s recent 26-point, 17-rebound performance on the road at Santa Clara sparked Pepperdine to its first significant road win of the season. Time and time again Lane came up with a big play that carried the Waves to victory.
“Brendan wasn’t going to let us lose. He was very good in all areas,” said Wilson.
Brooks has played so well that he earned the “WCC Player of the Week” honor a couple weeks back. The junior transfer from Lamar Community College in Colorado scored 20 and 24 points against San Diego and BYU, respectively. Brooks connected on 13 of 21 three-point field goals in the Waves’ 3-0 start.
Major and Udenyi alternate at the point guard position and have been very productive running the Waves’ offense. The two freshmen’s quick and aggressive style of play has helped Pepperdine win 10 games, the quickest to reach that amount of victories since 2005.
“I don’t want them to be satisfied,” Wilson said. “I want them to be excited and to use this as a stepping stone and get better every game. We want to carry the positives on to the next game.”
Now in his third year as head coach and 17th overall at Pepperdine, Wilson continues to stress the importance of competing with a purpose and building the program one day at a time.
After the Waves’ loss at San Francisco that snapped their four-game winning streak, Wilson tweeted out that ‘winning is always good, but hopefully learning the lesson of losing allows you to win more.’
Wilson knows something about winning. As an assistant coach early in his career at Pepperdine, he was a part of three consecutive WCC regular-season titles (1991-93) and a WCC-record 38 consecutive wins over league opponents.
At the conclusion of the Santa Clara victory, former Waves coach Tom Asbury texted Wilson a congratulatory message with a subtle reminder.
“He texted me and congratulated us,” Wilson said. “Then he said to remind the guys that they have 35 more games to go (to match the winning streak). It put what we have accomplished so far in perspective.”
While the modest three-game conference winning streak ended last week, it did provide glimpses of a successful season ahead for the Waves and a turning of the tide within the program.
Pepperdine resumes action at BYU on Thursday and returns home to play Gonzaga (14-2, 4-0) on January 16 at 7 p.m. in a much-anticipated matchup between two of the WCC’s best teams.