THREE TO SEE

* Men’s basketball: Gonzaga at Pepperdine, 7:30 p.m., Friday. The Waves meet the premier team in the West Coast Conference in a battle for first place. Gonzaga is ranked 13th in the nation, the highest in school history, and has an All-American candidate in senior guard Dan Dickau. Pepperdine, which has won four in a row, has already defeated No. 9 UCLA and No. 18 USC. The game is expected to be a sellout.

* Men’s and women’s swimming: USC at UC Irvine, 1 p.m., Saturday. The Trojans ranked 10th in both the men’s and women’s polls, face the Anteaters in a nonconference dual meet. The Trojan men are led by junior Erik Vendt, a silver medalist in the 400-meter intermediate medley at the 2001 World Championships, and sophomore Klete Keller, the defending 200-yard and 500-yard NCAA champion. The Irvine men defeated UC San Diego last week, while the women lost to both Fresno State and San Diego State.

* Men’s tennis: UC Santa Barbara at UCLA, L.A. Tennis Center, 1:30 p.m., Wednesday. The No. 3-ranked Bruins open their season against the Gauchos, who went 6-17 in dual matches last season. Marcin Matkowski and Jean-Julien Rojer are the top-ranked doubles team in the nation, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. Both players are also ranked in the top 20 in singles.