Streaks aside, Pepperdine has Gonzaga coach Mark Few’s attention in WCC opener

Gonzaga coach Mark Few worries about every opponent, even one his Zags have defeated 43 consecutive times.

The Zags haven’t lost to Pepperdine since Jan. 18, 2002. That’s the third-longest streak in NCAA Division I history behind UCLA’s 52 straight over California (1961-85) and Syracuse’s 49 in a row over Colgate (1963-2019).

Add in Gonzaga’s 73-game home winning streak and its 26 consecutive victories in West Coast Conference openers and the Zags don’t appear to have much to worry about, on paper at least.

The Waves are 7-7, including 0-4 in road games, but they have some offensive firepower, including three impressive sophomores and a rotation of bigs that will attempt to slow down Gonzaga scoring machine Drew Timme.

No. 10 Gonzaga (11-3) brings a six-game winning streak into the conference opener against the Waves at 2 p.m. Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Pepperdine took its lumps last year, finishing 7-25 and 1-15 in the WCC.

The bright spots were wing Maxwell Lewis and guards Houston Mallette and Mike Mitchell Jr., who all made the WCC All-Freshman team.

The threesome has better stats as sophomores, with Lewis making the biggest jump from 11.0 points to 19.4, second in the WCC behind Timme. They combine to average 43.7 of the team’s 77.9 points. They distribute 10.5 of the Waves’ 15.4 assists and make 42.9% on 3-point attempts.

“Pepperdine has great talent,” said Few, who is 23-0 in conference openers. “They might be sophomores, but they played heavy minutes last year and they’ve been around. They’re a really scary team.

“They can really score it and they have good size at their positions.”

Pepperdine’s future appears to be bright with eight freshmen and sophomores in its nine-man rotation. That includes four bigs, led by 6-foot-11 freshman Jevon Porter, 6-10 sophomore Carson Basham and 6-10 redshirt sophomore Boubacar Coulibaly, who played 21 games at USC before transferring.

Porter averages 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, and Basham contributes 6.2 points and 4.2 boards. Coulibaly, a native of Mali, adds 5.8 points and 4.5 rebounds.

Jan Zidek, a 6-9 senior, averages 6.5 points and has made 100 career 3-pointers. Zidek’s father, George, played on UCLA’s 1995 national championship team when Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar was a Bruins assistant coach.

The Waves are second in the WCC in blocks. Coulibaly (1.33) and Basham (1.31) rank first and second, respectively. Lewis (1.07) and Porter (1.0) are seventh and eighth.

“They’ve got a lot of talent over there,” said Timme, who averages 21.8 points and has led Gonzaga in scoring in 10 of 14 games. “Those guys can get hot in a hurry – that’s something we don’t want to entertain. Hopefully, we can ‘D’ them up and make those guys uncomfortable.”

The Waves have struggled with consistency and finishing off close games. All seven wins were by at least nine points. Six of the seven losses, including two in overtime, were by 10 points or less.

Pepperdine hasn’t played since falling 76-66 to Iona on Christmas Day at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. The Waves finished 1-2 at the tournament with a loss to Hawaii and a victory over George Washington.

Pepperdine hasn’t defeated an AP Top 25 team since 2004 and a top-10 opponent since 2001.