Going Is Slow in a Fast Start for 5-0 Waves
The Pepperdine basketball team isn’t playing the style of offense it would like to, but it continues to win.
Playing their fourth consecutive opponent intent on slowing the pace, the Waves struggled to find offensive rhythm but still defeated Wichita State, 60-50, on Tuesday before 1,146 at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Shockers (1-1) started three guards, giving Pepperdine’s big men a chance to score early. Sophomore forward Kelvin Gibbs, who had a team-high 13 points, scored 12 in the first half.
Senior forward Marc McDowell scored eight off the bench in the first half and finished with 10.
“We like to go down low, so we were just running our offense,” Gibbs said of Pepperdine’s first half. The Waves (5-0), off to their best start since 1976-77, led at halftime, 30-22.
But point guard Jelani Gardner, the Waves’ leading scorer entering play at 13.3 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half.
“We feel like we’re getting locked up right now,” Gardner said of the defenses the Waves have faced so far. “We’re getting tired of the repetition. When are they going to play the way we want to?”
Though Gardner was shut out in the first half, it didn’t take him or fellow guard Tommie Prince long to get going in the second.
Gardner and Prince scored 13 of Pepperdine’s first 17 points of the half, as Wichita State collapsed down low defensively and Pepperdine was forced to go outside for scoring.
“We ran some plays for Jelani,” Wave Coach Lorenzo Romar said of the second-half strategy. “We just explained to the guys [at halftime] to wait on their shot. Wichita State is a good defensive team. If you hunt shots down, you’re not going to make any.”
The Shockers held the Waves to eight points below their season average and forced 16 turnovers. But the Waves’ defense was better, forcing 22 turnovers and holding the Shockers to 36.2 % shooting.
Wichita State’s Maurice Evans led all scorers with 17 points, but on five-of-17 shooting. The closest Wichita State got to Pepperdine in the second half was five points, at 55-50 with 1:18 to play. But a Gibbs block of an Evans’ shot ended any comeback hopes.