BYU to Take on Pepperdine Saturday Night at Home

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s basketball will face Pepperdine (6-6, 2-1) at home on Saturday. On Thursday, BYU defeated the Portland Pilots 95-67, while the Waves picked up a win over Pacific 85-68.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. MST. It will also be broadcast live on the BYU Sports Network on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2 and KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM.

BYU Notes (12-3, 3-1 West Coast Conference)

The Cougars are 12-3, most recently defeating Portland 95-67 at the Marriott Center.
BYU has wins over Portland, San Francisco, Saint Mary’s, Weber State, Texas Southern, No. 18 San Diego State, Utah, Utah State, St. John’s, Utah Valley, New Orleans and Westminster. The three losses were to USC, Boise State and No. 1 Gonzaga.
BYU is led by senior guard Alex Barcello who is averaging 15.9 points, 4.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. Barcello is 33-for-59 from beyond the arc. The 56% clip is No. 1 in the nation among players who have shot 50+ threes.
Matt Haarms added three blocks against Portland, bringing his season total to 25. If the season were to end today, his 1.66 blocks per game average would place him No. 7 all-time at BYU for an individual season. The 48 blocks he is on track to finish with would put him at No. 10, beating out Brandon Davies’s 47 blocks in 2011-12.

Head Coach – Mark Pope

Alma Mater: Kentucky, 1996
Division I Career Record: 113-67 (6th season)
Record at BYU: 36-11 (2nd season)

Pepperdine Notes (6-6, 2-1 West Coast Conference)

Pepperdine is 6-6, after picking up a victory over Pacific 85-68 on Thursday. After opening up the conference season with a loss at No. 1 Gonzaga, the Waves have won back-to-back games at home. The 2-1 record to open up conference play is the Waves' best since the 2014-15 season, when it started 4-1. The Waves went on to sweep the Cougars that year.
Pepperdine has wins this season over Pacific, Portland, Concordia-Irvine, Cal, Saint Katherine and UC Irvine. Its losses have come to No. 1 Gonzaga, CSU Bakersfield, UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, San Diego State and No. 22 UCLA.
Three of the Waves’ six losses came down to the wire. Pepperdine battled No. 22 UCLA to three overtimes before losing by nine. Their next two losses were each decided by five points.
Pepperdine is led by guard Colbey Ross and forward Kessler Edwards. Ross is averaging 15.9 points per game on the season and 9.3 assists per game in conference play. Edwards scored 37 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in Thursday’s game against Pacific. Ross was a first team all-conference player a year ago, while Edwards made second team all-WCC.

Head Coach – Lorenzo Romar

Alma Mater: Cincinnati, 1992
Division I Career Record: 429-324 (24th Season)
Record at Pepperdine: 80-84 (6th Season; 1996-99, 2018-present)

Series Information

All-Time Series: BYU leads 16-7
Last Meeting: BYU won 81-64, 2/29/2020
BYU’s five-game win streak is the second longest in the history of the series. The Cougars won seven straight from 2003-2013, but only four of those games came with BYU as a member of the WCC.
Waves head coach Lorenzo Romar is 0-5 all-time against the Cougars. In addition to the last three matchups as WCC foes, BYU defeated him when he was at Pepperdine during the 1997-98 season, and again in the first round of the 2013 NIT when he was the head coach of the Washington Huskies.

Broadcast Information

TV: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Flemming (play-by-play), and Sean Farnham (analyst)
Radio: BYU Sports Network, BYU Radio Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2, KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM
Streamed Audio: BYURadio.org, BYUCougars.com/LiveRadio and the BYU Radio, BYUCougars and BYU Gameday apps
Radio Talent: Greg Wrubell (play-by-play), Mark Durrant (analyst)
Live Stats: BYUCougars.com