Pepperdine Falls to Utah, 77-61

Utah Coach Rick Majerus called Friday’s game the “Injury Bowl,” which was only partially correct.

If he wanted, Majerus could have added insult to injury, as his team did to Pepperdine, drilling the Waves, 77-61, in a nonconference game before 1,627 at Malibu.

The Waves were without three players and Utah went without its top scorer, but one look at the stat sheet told all there was to know: Utah worked harder, outrebounding Pepperdine, 48-32, and played sticky defense that held the Waves to 24-for-71 shooting (33.8%), including three for 22 from three-point range.

“They just took us apart any way you can take a team apart,” Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal said. “They taught us a lesson. They played 40 minutes of tough basketball that we couldn’t match.”

It was a surprising way to lose for Pepperdine (5-4), which won the Stanford Invitational earlier this week and had won five of six.

Utah was coming off a 59-54 loss to Utah State. Toss in that the Utes (6-3) played without forward Britton Johnsen, who had surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, and it’s easy to see why Majerus was pleased.

“Our guys played in great fashion given the loss of Britton,” Majerus said. “A lot of people are calling it a rebuilding year for us, but our guys looked tough tonight.”

Utah, which relies heavily on three freshmen, pounded the Waves on the way to a 41-30 halftime lead, grabbing rebound after rebound and beating the Waves upcourt for easy transition baskets.

“We got outworked tonight,” said Pepperdine forward Jimmy Miggins, who had 12 points.

Utah guard Nick Jacobson scored a game-high 19 points.

Pepperdine was without Glen McGowan, who was out because of a blood clot in his left arm, and Devin Montgomery, who sat out because of a fractured right thumb. Will Kimble has been out almost three weeks because of a heart condition.

Gonzaga 90, Long Beach State 55 -- Cory Violette and Ronny Turiaf each scored 17 points and Blake Stepp had a school-record 16 assists at Spokane, Wash., as the Bulldogs (7-3) handed the 49ers (1-7) a sixth consecutive loss.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.