The teams met just last week with Pepperdine pulling out a thrilling win over BYU to jump ahead of the Cougars in the WCC standings. It’s not the building that wins games, but BYU hasn’t lost at the Marriott Center this season and plays seven of its last 10 in Provo.
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HOW THE PEPPERDINE WAVES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The Waves knocked off BYU at Firestone Fieldhouse just last week, so the taste of victory is still fresh. Pepperdine’s aspirations of relevance in the West Coast Conference are once again within reach – that is if the Waves continue to build on their successful first half of the season, which also included a win over conference-leading St. Mary’s.
Nobody said this breakthrough would be easy. Unforeseen season-ending injuries to guards Shawn Olden and Atif Russell have not only affected the Waves’ ability to compete against teams with longer benches, but also to stay in games when players experience early foul trouble.
What Pepperdine does have is a strong front court, a resurgent defense and continued improvement from Lamond Murray Jr. and Jeremy Major. Forwards Jett Raines, Stacy Davis ad Kameron Edwards are versatile enough to give opposing defenses headaches. Raines burned BYU last week for 18 points on 8 of 14 shooting, routinely getting around BYU defenders on the block. He needs to duplicate that effort in Provo to give the Waves any hope of escaping the Marriott Center with a win.
HOW THE BYU COUGARS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
First of all the Cougars are back in the comfortable confines of the Marriott Center, where they always seem to enjoy a home-court advantage. BYU just completed a stretch where they played nine of 11 games on the road, ending that run with a loss to the Waves in Malibu. And the Cougars need to get on a roll if they want to attract some attention from the NCAA tournament selection committee.
BYU returns home after dropping two of its last three games with an emphasis now on playing better together for 40 minutes, rebounding better and executing better down the stretch. Teamwork has become the theme for the Cougars this season and one statistic seems to be a barometer: in their seven losses, the Cougars have averaged 10.7 assists per game. In its wins, BYU averages 18.7 assists.
An element worked on in practice ahead of the matchup and taken seriously by point guard Kyle Collinsworth, the program’s all-time assist leader. He notched his 10th career triple-double last week at LMU with 10 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 15 assists.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
The teams are quite familiar with each other after playing just last week and adjustments will be made on both sides following the Waves’ win in Malibu. Pepperdine’s athletic big men did most of the damage last Saturday with Murray, Raines and Edwards combining to score 51 of the team’s 71 points and the five starters scored all but two of the total. Pepperdine has a solid starting five, but lacks size and depth. The Waves matched up well against the Cougars, who couldn’t contain Pepperdine’s bigs down low. The lack of depth will be an issue going into a hostile environment and foul trouble will doom the Waves. The Cougars can point to last season – when they reeled off eight straight wins to conclude league play – as inspiration for another big run. Seven of their final 10 games are at the Marriott Center where they are 8-0 this NCAAB season.
BYU 75, Pepperdine 66
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