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* RHODE ISLAND (6-5) at PEPPERDINE (7-5), 5 p.m., Fox Sports West 2--In the inaugural Sparkletts Invitational, Jim Harrick returns for the first time to where he began his collegiate head coaching career. From 1979-88, Harrick led the Waves to four trips to the NCAA tournament and two appearances in the NIT. The game also will be the first time Harrick and Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar will be on the same floor since Romar served as Harrick’s assistant at UCLA from 1992-96. The Waves have struggled lately, dropping five of their last seven games. Three of those losses were to ranked teams--Kansas, Wisconsin and Michigan State. Guard Jelani Gardner leads the Waves with 12.8 points a game. The Rams, who made it to the round of eight in last season’s NCAA tournament, are coming off a last-second loss to Cleveland State on Sunday, and bring to Malibu one of the most talked about players in the nation in sophomore Lamar Odom. After transferring from Nevada Las Vegas and sitting out a year, Odom is averaging 14.9 points and nine rebounds a game.