Matter of Perspective : Pepperdine Can Surpass USF’s Conference Win Streak Mark This Weekend, but Don’t Look for Any Bill Russells or K.C. Joneses Among the Waves

Although comparisons are inevitable, the last thing Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury wants is for his team to be measured against the great University of San Francisco basketball teams of the mid-1950s.

The Waves don’t have a center in the class of Bill Russell, and they don’t have a guard who compares to K.C. Jones.

It’s highly unlikely Pepperdine will win two consecutive NCAA titles, as USF did in 1955 and ‘56, or put together a winning streak of 60 games, as USF did from 1954 to 1956.

“We don’t have that kind of talent,” Asbury conceded.

Yet, by the end of this weekend, Pepperdine could replace USF as holder of the longest winning streak in the 40-year history of the West Coast Conference, which began as the California Basketball Assn. in 1952.

With two victories in the conference tournament, the Waves will extend their conference winning streak to 32 games, one more than USF won from 1954 to 1957. Top-seeded Pepperdine (21-6) opens the three-day tournament at 2 p.m. Saturday against host Portland (10-17), the conference’s last-place team.

Pepperdine’s streak reached 30 Saturday night with a 75-63 victory over Gonzaga at Firestone Fieldhouse, the Waves completing a 14-0 WCC season. Afterward, players celebrated by throwing the coaching staff into the school pool.

A month and a half ago, though, Asbury believed his players were all wet when the conference record for consecutive victories became a topic of conversation on the Malibu campus.

“I never thought it was very realistic,” Asbury said. “Our streak was around 18, 19 games, and the players started talking, ‘Let’s go get it.’ I thought they were nuts.”

Now that the record is within reach, Asbury has joined his players in using the winning streak as a motivational tool.

“It gives us a tangible goal every night out,” he said.

He acknowledged that maintaining the streak has brought added pressure to a team that needs to win the WCC tournament to assure itself a bid to the

NCAA tournament, despite its dominance in the conference.

“It puts a lot of pressure on you,” Asbury said. “The old cliche is that you start playing not to lose, as opposed to playing to win.”

But senior guard Doug Christie, Pepperdine’s leading scorer with a 19.3-point average, says it will take a great effort to keep the Waves from winning the tournament title for the second consecutive season. They won it last season, despite losing Christie to a knee injury in the opening game.

“We’re the team to beat,” Christie said. “If we come and play hard, I don’t think there is a team in the league that can beat us, for the simple fact that we have the most talent.”

Pepperdine has not lost a WCC game since Jan. 11, 1991, when it was upset at home by San Diego, 91-88, in the conference opener last season. The Waves won their next 13 WCC games to win the title by four games over Loyola Marymount. Three more victories won the conference tournament. This season, Pepperdine won the WCC title by five games over Santa Clara.

“I’m amazed at our streak, but I’m even more amazed that we won the conference by five games,” Asbury said. “In this day and age, that type of thing just doesn’t happen.”

Pepperdine’s consistency has impressed every coach in a conference in which all eight teams are considered competitive with one another.

“There are no easy games in our conference,” San Diego Coach Hank Egan said. “I don’t think Pepperdine had any easy games, which makes their accomplishment even more remarkable, because I don’t think they’re that far away from anyone.”

Maybe not far away, but far enough, according to Gonzaga Coach Dan Fitzgerald.

“Pepperdine has to be one of the best teams in the 40-year history of the conference,” said Fitzgerald, who remembers watching the Russell-led USF teams as a boy growing up in San Francisco. “They’ve done a wonderful job. Everybody keeps saying that they are beatable, but they keep winning.

“I don’t think they are as intimidating as some of the teams that have won our conference in the past. . . . Those USF teams with Russell and K.C. Jones were unbelievable. You’re talking about two Hall of Famers. But don’t get me wrong, I think this is possibly the most talented Pepperdine team that I have coached against.”

For the past two seasons, Pepperdine primarily has relied on the trio of Christie, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who is considered an NBA prospect; power forward Geoff Lear, a 6-8, 245-pound senior averaging 16.9 points and 7.6 rebounds, and small forward Dana Jones, a 6-6 sophomore averaging 11 points and 7.2 rebounds. Christie was named WCC most valuable player and Jones was freshman of the year last season.

“I don’t think the other teams match up with us real well,” Christie said. “We’re bigger, basically.”

Egan, the San Diego coach, says Christie and Lear make the difference.

“They have the two best players in the league at their positions,” Egan said. “And they have a very good supporting cast, people that fill their roles well.”

Pepperdine’s role players include point guard Damin Lopez, the WCC’s top three-point shooter (48.9%), backup point guard Rick Welch and 6-6 reserve forward Steve Guild.

“They’re a good basketball team all the way around,” Loyola Marymount Coach Jay Hillock said. “They’re a long way from a one-man wrecking crew.”

That balance has helped Pepperdine through several close calls during its conference winning streak.

St. Mary’s nearly beat the Waves three times last season. But Pepperdine prevailed on a shot at the buzzer by Lear at St. Mary’s, 79-78; in double overtime at Firestone Fieldhouse, 82-78, and in overtime in the tournament championship game, 71-68, after trailing by 11 points in the second half without Christie.

This season, the Waves nearly lost their second WCC game at Gonzaga. The Bulldogs led by three points with 30 seconds left, but a three-point basket by Lopez, a turnover by Gonzaga and two free throws by Lopez with 13 seconds left gave Pepperdine a 68-66 victory.

“They have the ability to turn it on when they need to,” said Santa Clara Coach Carroll Williams, whose team gave Pepperdine a battle before falling at home, 52-48, on Feb. 15. “They can play with anybody on a given night.”

Asbury, whose four-year WCC record of 47-9 is tops among active conference coaches, says team chemistry is a big reason for the Waves’ success.

“I’m very proud of this group of guys,” he said. “Collectively they have played very hard, very smart and have been a very determined bunch. . . . If nothing else, you have to give credit to our team for consistency.”

Those reluctant to give Pepperdine too much credit for its winning streak probably would question the strength of the WCC. Among the Waves’ six defeats were games against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a Division II school; Georgia Southern, leader of the Trans America Conference; Montana, co-leader of the Big Sky Conference, and UC Santa Barbara, second-place team in the Big West Conference. Pepperdine was blown out by UCLA, 98-58, at Pauley Pavilion.

The Waves’ other loss might have been their most impressive game of the season--a 79-73 overtime defeat by No. 3-ranked Kansas.

Because of the Waves’ failure to distinguish themselves against nonconference competition, it is questionable whether they will be granted an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament if they fail to win the WCC tournament.

“I’ve seen some teams that are on the so-called bubble (for the NCAA tournament),” USF Coach Jim Brovelli said, “and (Pepperdine was) not one of them.”

Asbury says his team deserves an NCAA bid, win or lose this weekend.

“I believe we’ve earned a spot already,” he said. “But when you look at league tournaments across the country, there will be upsets, there will be teams that get more respect than those in our conference. But I don’t think anybody can answer that question now.”

Christie finds it hard to believe that anyone could doubt Pepperdine’s strength after what it has accomplished in the WCC.

“I’m kind of amazed because 30 games is quite a few,” he said of the team’s conference winning streak. “It doesn’t matter what league you’re in, the Ivy League or whatever.”

Wave-Length

Pepperdine can tie the conference record of 31 victories in a row set by the University of San Francisco from 1954-57 if it beats the University of Portland Saturday in the first round of the West Coast Conference tournament at Portland. Here is the breakdown of the Waves’ 30-game WCC victory streak:

1990-91 SEASON

DATE OPPONENT SCORE MRG Jan. 12 Santa Clara 67-61 6 Jan. 16 Loyola Marymount 91-79 12 Jan. 19 at Loyola Marymount 101-95 6 Jan. 25 at San Francisco 84-67 17 Jan. 26 at St. Mary’s 79-78 1 Feb. 1 St. Mary’s 82-78 (2 OT) 4 Feb. 2 San Francisco 72-57 15 Feb. 7 at Portland 87-74 13 Feb. 9 at Gonzaga 80-56 24 Feb. 15 Gonzaga 84-56 28 Feb. 16 Portland 81-58 23 Feb. 21 at Santa Clara 77-66 11 Feb. 23 at San Diego 75-69 6 Mar. 2 *Portland 97-62 35 Mar. 3 *San Francisco 65-56 9 Mar. 4 *St. Mary’s 71-68 (OT) 3

* WCC Tournament.

1991-92 SEASON

DATE OPPONENT SCORE MRG Jan. 11 Loyola Marymount 94-84 10 Jan. 16 at Gonzaga 68-66 2 Jan. 18 at Portland 94-73 21 Jan. 24 San Francisco 77-64 13 Jan. 25 St. Mary’s 69-52 17 Jan. 31 at St. Mary’s 76-64 12 Feb. 1 at San Francisco 68-62 6 Feb. 7 Santa Clara 75-53 22 Feb. 12 San Diego 71-58 13 Feb. 13 at San Diego 79-67 12 Feb. 15 at Santa Clara 52-48 4 Feb. 22 at Loyola Marymount 103-89 14 Feb. 28 Portland 79-57 22 Feb. 29 Gonzaga 75-63 12

AVG. MARGIN OF VICTORY: 13.1 POINTS NOTE: Pepperdine’s last WCC loss was Jan. 11, 1991 to University of San Diego, 91-88, at Malibu.