#7/7 Gonzaga (12-1) vs. Pepperdine (5-8)
SUNDAY, DEC. 28 | 5 P.M. PT | MALIBU, CA | FIRESTONE FIELDHOUSE
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THE OPENING TIP
- Gonzaga opens West Coast Conference play at Pepperdine Sunday at 5 p.m. It's the fourth straight season the Zags have started league play against the Waves.
- The Bulldogs have won 29 straight West Coast Conference openers, dating back to a 72-61 loss at Santa Clara in 1996. GU has won all 26 WCC openers under Mark Few.
- The Bulldogs are coming off a 91-82 win over Oregon in the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., Dec. 21. Five Zags finished in double-digit, with a sixth at nine points. GU got 40 points from its bench, led by 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from Braeden Smith. His season-high was coupled with seven assists and no turnovers. Braden Huff added 20 points, while Graham Ike had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Steele Venters and Tyon Grant-Foster chipped in 14 and 10 points. The Bulldogs were 10-of-23 from three-point range.
- GU is one of three teams in the nation with both its offense (4th) and defense (9th) in KenPom's Top 10.
- Gonzaga has now made at least one appearance in the Top 10 of the AP poll in each of the last 12 seasons. Out of 241 appearances in the poll since 2014, the Bulldogs have been in the top ten 57 percent of the time.
- The Zags currently lead the WCC in scoring margin (24.8, 4th in NCAA), scoring offense (92.3, 13th), rebounds (43.3, 8th), rebound margin (12.2, 8th), defensive rebounds per game (30.08, 11th), assists (20.0, 8th), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.95, 5th), field goal percentage (52.1, 10th), effective field goal percentage (.578), three-point percentage defense (28.0, 20th), three-point percentage (36.8), turnover margin (5.0, 14th), bench points (35.2, 23rd), fast-break points (15.46), and turnovers (10.2). GU tops the nation in points in the paint averaging 47.7 per game, and has made 153 more twos than its opponents.
- Graham Ike ranks second among active scorers in NCAA Div. 1 with 2,163 points, Indiana's Tucker DeVries is first at 2,197. Ike's 995 rebounds also ranks second among active players. He is the only active player with 2,000 points and 900 rebounds in a career. Ike was named preseason All-American by CBS Sports and ESPN, and to the NABC, Wooden, Lute Olson, and Naismith Player of the Year watch lists.
- Ike is seventh in the nation, and first in the WCC, with seven double-doubles this season. Braden Huff tops the country with 112 made field goals, and is sixth making 66.7 percent from the field (71.3% inside-the-arc).
 
SCOUTING THE WAVES
- Pepperdine is coming off an 84-62 win over Rice in Malibu on Dec. 20. In the Waves' non-conference finale, Pepperdine knocked down a season-high 13 looks from three-point range in the win, with a season-best 54.2% (13-for-24) shooting percentage from deep. Aaron Clark led the Waves with 25 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Clark was 4-for-6 shooting from distance in the effort. Javon Cooley added 15 points for the Waves which featured hitting 4-of-5 looks from deep, including a 3-for-3 mark in the second half. Danilo Dozic contributed a pair of triples to finish with 10 points while Yonatan Levy added eight points and seven boards.
- Four Pepperdine players average double-digit scoring led by Clark's 14.5 points per game. Cooley chips in 13.9 points. Dozic scores 11.8 points per contest.
- Styles Phipps adds 12.4 points and team-best 6.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists per outing.
 
SERIES INFO
- This is the 101st all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Pepperdine. The Zags have a 69-31 advantage in the series.
- GU has won 49 straight versus the Waves, with the last Pepperdine victory in the series coming on Jan. 18, 2002, 88-79, in Malibu.
- It ranks as the second-longest streak versus an opponent in Div. 1 history, and currently the longest active.
- The Bulldogs are 53-2 against the Waves under Few.
- In last season's meeting at Pepperdine on Dec. 30, Khalif Battle scored 21 points, Braden Huff added 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting and No. 19 GU won 89-82.
- GU has won 22 in-a-row inside the Firestone Fieldhouse and is 28-17 all-time in the meetings in Malibu.
- In the most recent matchup, the Zags cruised to a 107-55 win in Spokane on Feb. 15. Khalif Battle led all scorers with 24 points, while Graham Ike pulled down nine rebounds. Emmanuel Innocenti had three steals.
- Gonzaga has a 35-12 advantage in the meetings in Spokane, winning 25 in-a-row against Pepperdine in Spokane. The last time the Waves won at GU was on Feb. 19, 1998, 65-64.
- Gonzaga won the first-ever meeting, 93-70, in the Knights of Columbus Tournament in Portland, on Dec. 11, 1964.
 
WAVE BREAKERS
- GU has won 49 straight games against Pepperdine.
- It ranks as the third-longest streak versus an opponent in Div. 1 history.
 
UP NEXT
- The 105th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and San Diego. GU has an 82-22 lead in the series.
- GU has won 19 straight versus the Toreros, 30 of the last 30, and 52 of the last 55 matchups.
- The Bulldogs are 53-4 against San Diego under Few.
- The Toreros' last win in the series came on Feb. 22, 2014, 69-66, at San Diego.
- Gonzaga is 35-13 all-time at San Diego. The Zags have won 14 of their last 15 at USD, including the last nine.
- In the last matchup at San Diego, Braden Huff scored a career-high 26 points and Gonzaga eased to a 105-63 win on Jan. 20, 2024. The Bulldogs used an early 22-0 run to jump ahead 33-9 midway through the first half and never looked back. Ben Gregg made his second collegiate start and had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Anton Watson scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards, and Ryan Nembhard was the third Zag to finish with a double-double of 12 points and 12 assists. Nembhard's 12 assists came with no turnovers.
- Gonzaga is 40-5 at home versus San Diego all-time, including 21-0 in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
- GU has won 25 straight games at home in the series, dating back to an 82-70 loss on Feb. 17, 2000.
- In last season's lone meeting, Ben Gregg scored 23 points and Khalif Battle added 20, in a 93-80 Gonzaga win on Jan. 8, 2025. Graham Ike scored 15 points, but grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds. Braden Huff added 11 points.
- The Zags won the first-ever meeting, 72-62, on Feb. 1, 1980, in San Diego.
 
HUFF NATIONAL AND WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Braden totaled 57 points on 73.5 percent (25-for-34) shooting from the field. He added 14 rebounds and two blocks during wins over Campbell and Oregon.
- He was also named a Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the USBWA.
- Against Campbell, Huff tallied a career-high 37 points on 16-for-18 shooting, including connecting on his first 12 consecutive shots. Only one other Division I player in the last eight seasons has made 12 shots in a half without a miss.
- Huff matched his prior career high of 26 points by halftime. His 16 made shots from the field were the most in McCarthey Athletic Center history, the most by a player in the WCC so far this season and fourth-most in the nation.
- Huff's 37 points were the second most in the conference this season and the most by Zag since Julian Strawther's 40 points at Portland in 2023.
- Huff added 20 points in the victory over Oregon in Portland.
- This is the second time that Huff has won conference player of the week and the Bulldogs now own four conference weekly awards this season.
 
NAVIGATED THE NON-CONFERENCE
- Gonzaga may have just completed its best non-conference slate in program history, finishing 12-1.
- The Zags won a program-record eight games against power conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC) teams in during the 12-1 start, and tied the record for most games played against power-conference opponents under Few (9).
- GU outscored opponents by an average of 24.8 points, which is the highest nonleague scoring margin under Few. Remove the Michigan game, and GU's margin rises to 30.1.
- Gonzaga won 11 of its 12 nonconference games by double figures. That would've been a perfect 12 for 12, but Oregon made a lay-in with three seconds remaining in the Zags' nine-point victory. The 11 double-digit wins is currently the most in the nation.
 
RACKING UP RANKED WINS
- Gonzaga's victory over No. 25 UCLA was the Zags' fourth win over a ranked foe this season.
- The four ranked victories are tied for the second-most in the nation with UConn and Duke. Arizona has five.
- GU had three wins over ranked teams all of last season.