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MALIBU, Calif. \u2014 Pepperdine men’s basketball (3-7) is set for a road tilt at Cal State Bakersfield (4-7) Saturday from the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif.<\/p>\n
With game time set for 6:30 p.m., live game coverage can be found on ESPN+<\/a> while live stats will be available\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The game marks the third true road contest of the season for the Waves as they head into their final three non-conference affairs before the holiday.<\/p>\n Pepperdine has three non-conference road games with Big West opponents, with this weekend’s matchup with the Roadrunners being the second before a trip to Long Beach State next week.
\n<\/p>\n LAST TIME OUT<\/p>\n
GAME NOTES\u00a0<\/p>\n
SERIES HISTORY<\/p>\n
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS <\/p>\n
The Waves will head to Long Beach State next, playing their final road non-conference game Thursday (Dec. 18) with opening tip set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.<\/p>\n ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN’S BASKETBALL
\n\tPepperdine fell by a score of 65-56 at home against Vermont this past Saturday.
\n\tVermont won the second half by a 39-28 margin after the Waves held a two-point lead at the half.
\n\tJavon Cooley<\/a> led the Waves with 15 points off the bench to go with six rebounds.
\n\tStyles Phipps<\/a> logged a career-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points and four assists.
\n\tThe Waves went 17-for-20 from the free throw line.
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\n\tPepperdine currently ranks 10th in the country in free throw percentage at .790.
\n\tThe mark ranks second in the WCC, as the Waves have converted 158 of 200 attempts from the charity stripe this season.
\n\tThe Waves had shot over 70-percent from the line in six straight games, knocking down 17-of-20 last time out against Vermont and 23-for-26 in the most recent road game at Cal State Fullerton.
\n\tPepperdine currently ranks third in the WCC with 12.9 offensive rebounds per game.
\n\tThe Waves have secured at 15 or more offensive boards in five of ten games this season.
\n\tStyles Phipps<\/a> is one of two players in the country averaging over 11 points, six rebounds, 5.5 assists and a steal per game (Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State).
\n\tPhipps is currently third in the WCC in assists per game at 5.4.
\n\tPhipps is the only player in the WCC to have both a points\/rebounds double-double and points\/assists double-double this season.
\n\tPhipps currently\u00a0ranks ninth in the conference with 22 offensive rebounds this season, while Pavle Stosic<\/a> ranks second on the team with 1.7 offensive boards per game.
\n\tJavon Cooley<\/a> is tied for the team lead at 13.2 points per game while being the second-leading rebounder on the team with 5.4 boards per contest.
\n\tCooley ranks third in the WCC and 12th in the nation in free throw percentage (.956) and has hit 42 consecutive free throws.
\n\tCooley has now recorded six efforts this season with four or more free throws made at a 100- percent clip for the game.
\n\tCooley is also one five players in the WCC to rank top-20 in scoring and rebounding in the\u00a0conference.
\n\tAaron Clark<\/a> has helped pace the Waves’ scoring this season with 13.2 points per game which ranks 13th in the West Coast Conference.
\n\tClark’s 30-point effort against Stephen F. Austin\u00a0remains one of 10 games this season in which a player scored 30 points on 12 or fewer field goal attempts.
\n\tClark is one of two players in the WCC to be averaging at least 13 points per game,\u00a03.5 rebounds per game, 3 assists per game and 1 steal per game (Joel Foxwell, Portland).
\n\tDanilo Dozic<\/a> has posted a pair of 20-point efforts this season and sits at 12 points per game this season while leading the Waves in three-pointers made (14).
\n\tDozic currently ranks 22nd in the WCC in scoring at 12.3 points per game.
\n\tPavle Stosic<\/a> has started the past four games for the Waves and averaged 4.4 points and four rebounds per game this season.
\n\tLuka Vudragovic<\/a> has scored 6.5 points per game which ranks fifth on the team and has three games with multiple makes from beyond the arc.
\n\tThe Waves are one of two teams in the West Coast Conference to have four players averaging 11.5 points per game or more (Clark, Cooley, Dozic, Phipps).
\n\tFive players have finished as the leading scorer in a game for Pepperdine this season, with Cooley pacing the squad with four games as the team’s top point-getter.
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\n\tThis marks the seventh all-time meeting between the two programs.
\n\tBakersfield leads the all-time series by a 5-1 mark.
\n\tThe Roadrunners have won four straight matchups in the series dating back to the 2008-09 campaign.
\n\tThe most recent meeting saw a 79-51 win for Bakersfield in Malibu in December, 2020.
\n\tThe Waves have a 1-1 record on the road in the series, with its lone win coming on Nov. 25, 2007 by a score of 90-80.
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\n\tThe Roadrunners were selected to finish 10th in the Preseason Big West Poll.
\n\tBakersfield is led by Dailin Smith who ranks ninth in the Big West with 16.1 points per game.
\n\tRonald Jessamy ranks fourth in the NCAA in blocked shots with 30 coming into the contest.
\n\tThe Roadrunners enter on a three-game losing streak, having fallen to CSUN, UC Santa Barbara and North Dakota State in the month of December.
\n\tBakersfield has one common opponent so far with the Waves, as the Roadrunners defeated Fresno State on the road by a score of 76-71.
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\nPepperdine men’s basketball has made 13 NCAA postseason appearances while earning 12 WCC Regular-Season Championships and three WCC Tournament Championships in its history. This success has spanned multiple decades, with the Waves most recently winning the 2021 CBI Tournament. The program has also seen 19 All-Americans along with 19 NBA players, which included a streak of 34 consecutive seasons with at least one alum on an NBA roster from 1976-2011.<\/p>\n