Opportunity Knocks for Pepperdine

Coach Jim Harrick and his Pepperdine basketball players, who have been knocking on a door marked “Big Time,” will have a chance to enter at this weekend’s Kentucky Invitational.

But guarding the door are Kenny Walker and Kentucky (5-1), which has a 10-year record of 125-14 in the 23,000-seat Rupp Arena; East Carolina (4-1), and SMU (6-0). The Mustangs will be today’s opponent for Pepperdine, 6-1 after winning last week’s Brigham Young tournament. The game will start at 3:05 p.m., PST.

The host Wildcats will play East Carolina in the second game at 5:05 p.m. Saturday’s third-place game will be at 3:05 p.m. and the championship at 5:05.

Pepperdine, ranked 20th nationally this week by United Press International, and Kentucky, ranked 13th and 14th in the wire service polls, has each lost to Kansas, ranked fourth and sixth. East Carolina’s only loss was to Duke, No. 3 in both polls.

Harrick said: “We are playing in the showcase of college basketball, and we have an opportunity to make a big mark nationally. We don’t have any great players; we have an outstanding group of select players who play well together.”

But SMU Coach Dave Bliss, who has two freshman starters in 6-8 forward John Colborne and 6-6 guard Randy Jones, wasn’t buying the last part of Harrick’s statement.

“Pepperdine is a terrific team, and Dwayne Polee (the most valuable player of the BYU tourney) is one of the better guards in the country,” he said. “They run the high post offense better than anyone else I’ve seen.”

Bliss has a pretty good senior guard in Butch Moore, who is averaging 8.3 assists and 12.8 points a game. Moore was the most valuable player on last season’s team, which also included Jon Koncak and Carl (the Mailman) Wright.

Moore’s short jump shot with four seconds left gave SMU a 56-54 victory last season over Kentucky in Lexington and ended the Wildcats’s 23-game, home-court winning streak.

Bliss said that his team has some experienced players. “But we start two freshmen, and we have not played on the road yet this year,” he said. “I will be the first to admit our competition has not been the best, and we will definitely benefit by playing a team of Pepperdine’s caliber.”