Gonzaga withstands Pepperdine tidal wave, emerges with 89-82 win in WCC opener
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff (34) grabs the ball out of the air against the Pepperdine Waves during the second half of a college basketball game on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. Gonzaga won the game 89-82. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
MALIBU, Calif. – With only a handful of visits remaining to various gyms in the West Coast Conference, Gonzaga can expect the target on its back to grow over the next 24 months as longtime league rivals realize their chances to topple the Bulldogs are probably numbered.
Pepperdine, a program that’s been as starved as any in the WCC, had lost 47 straight games to Gonzaga entering Monday’s game at Firestone Fieldhouse – the longest active streak in the country for any team versus another Division I opponent and third-longest streak in history.
For a few brief moments in the second half, the Waves looked like they might finally seize one of the best opportunities they’ve had in 23 years to pull off a stunning upset of Mark Few and the Zags.
Pepperdine did most of the legwork a feat like that would normally require, overcoming a 20-point second-half deficit behind production from two unlikely suspects, but Gonzaga, two days removed from an agonizing loss to UCLA at Intuit Dome, still managed to hold on for a nervy 89-82 victory in its West Coast Conference opener.
“I think this game was good for us,” sophomore forward Braden Huff said. “We’d talked about it before, but just to be in it, see what that feels like was good for everyone on the team. We know we’ve got to be better. We’re going to get everyone’s best shot, so we’ve got to be better moving forward for sure.”
The Zags were meeting, and in many cases exceeding, their standard for much of the first half while building an 18-point halftime lead that quickly grew to 20 on Khalif Battle’s layup just nine seconds into the second half.
Pepperdine seemingly poured two decades of frustration into the scoring run that followed.
Gonzaga guard Khalif Battle drives against Pepperdine guard Moe Odum during a Dec. 30 WCC game in Malibu, Calif. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
The Waves started with a 3-pointer from Moe Odum, then a layup from Jaxon Olvera. Gonzaga’s Graham Ike scored on a tip-in, but it wasn’t long before the Bulldogs were buried by another tidal wave from Pepperdine. Odum knocked down two more jumpers and then a 3-pointer. Three more Pepperdine players scored on three straight possessions, extending the Waves’ run to 16-2 before Huff finally stopped the bleeding.
“We did this to ourselves, we had some silly, silly, silly turnovers at the start of the second half,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “Just some really bad turnovers, which led to get them going. We had a great stretch of defense the last 12 minutes of the first half that got us that lead and then you’ve got a tiger by the tail and you let a team at home turn you over and start feeling good about themselves.
“Then we got cooked. We absolutely got cooked, especially out there on the perimeter. Their guards really put it on us.”
Pepperdine trimmed the deficit to four points on a transition layup from Olvera with 2 minutes, 12 seconds remaining, but the Waves couldn’t get any closer, even after consecutive 2-point misses from Battle and Ryan Nembhard.
Two days after Battle was ejected from the UCLA loss after committing a Flagrant 2 foul in the first half, the transfer guard bounced back with 21 points on 7 of 11 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free throw line.
“It was a good team win,” Battle said. “I’m proud of our guys. We got our first of many and the goal is to win the league, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
Gonzaga’s bigs, Graham Ike and Huff, combined to score 35 points on 16 of 20 from the field, with 17 of Huff’s 19 points coming in the first half and 12 of Ike’s 16 coming in the second.
For stretches against Pepperdine, Gonzaga’s offense appeared to be back to normal after the Bulldogs scored a season-low 62 points against UCLA. Gonzaga still struggled from the 3-point line, going 2 of 15, and Nembhard never found his offensive rhythm, finishing 4 of 15 from the field with nine points, three assists and six turnovers.
Pepperdine’s Olvera was averaging 6.4 points per game before the freshman guard torched Gonzaga for 27 points, 12 more than his career-high. Point guard Moe Odum, who combined to score 20 points in three previous matchups against Gonzaga while playing for WCC foe Pacific, set a new career-high with 24 points – all of his production coming in the second half – on Monday.