Fast and furious Waves roll into town

Any college basketball team that runs up close to one hundred points, like the Gonzaga Bulldogs did in Saturday’s 97-62 West Coast Conference romp past Loyola Marymount, is comfortable playing fast.

But even the normally up-tempo Zags (10-6 overall, 1-0 in the WCC) might need to find another gear tonight when Pepperdine (4-13, 0-1) invades GU’s McCarthey Athletic Center.

Pepperdine, despite its early season struggles under first-year coach Vance Walberg, leads the WCC in scoring with an average of 81.9 points per game, which includes an uncharacteristically low output in Saturday’s league-opening 73-69 loss at Portland.

The Waves, who push the ball on nearly every possession, live and die from beyond the 3-point line, where they have launched 424 shots – 161 more than any other team in the WCC.

“It’s a very different approach that is hard to prepare for in just one day,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of Pepperdine’s run-and-gun style. “It’s a totally different scheme than we’ve faced, so we’ve got to rely on our instincts and fundamentals to make simple plays – and the right plays – and see what happens from there.”

Marvin Lea, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, leads the Waves’ balanced scoring attack with an average of 17.8 points per game, followed by fellow backcourt snipers Chase Griffin (15.1 ppg) and Kingsley Costain (13.9).

Costain is the WCC’s most accurate 3-point shooter at 47.4 percent, having knocked down 45 of 95 attempts. The 5-7 junior also ranks No. 2 to Gonzaga’s Derek Raivio in 3-pointers made per game with an average of 3.0.