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WEST COAST CONFERENCE

Loyola Marymount (11-13, 3-8) at St. Mary’s (20-7, 7-3), 7, KXLU-FM (88.9) -- If nothing else, the Lions’ tight 61-58 loss to 13th-ranked Gonzaga last weekend, their 10th in 13 games, showed they can still be a factor in the upcoming WCC tournament. But they face another tough task tonight against the Gaels, who are 13-1 at home this season. St. Mary’s forward Daniel Kickert had 28 points against the Lions in an 83-66 victory Jan. 22. Loyola point guard Charles Brown needs only 10 assists to become the fifth player in school history to attain 1,000 points and 400 assists. The Lions have been plagued by poor shooting in conference play. Brown and forward Daryl Pegram are under 30% from the field, and four others are under 40%.

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Pepperdine (14-12, 4-7) at Santa Clara (13-12, 6-4), 7 -- After a five-game funk doomed their league title chances, the Waves have played much better the last two weeks. Freshman center Russell Hicks, a 7-footer out of Canada, sparked Pepperdine’s 72-66 victory Saturday over Portland with career-bests of 14 points, six rebounds and eight blocked shots. Hicks’ 39 blocks rank second in the WCC behind Gonzaga’s Ronny Turiaf. Santa Clara has been hard to figure, but the Broncos could be a dangerous team in the WCC tournament on its home floor. In addition to defeating North Carolina and Stanford, the Broncos swept the two meetings with second-place St. Mary’s. Alaska natives Doron Perkins and Kyle Bailey combine to average 30.4 points in the backcourt.

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BIG WEST CONFERENCE

Idaho (8-16, 6-7) at Cal State Fullerton (13-8, 7-5), 7 -- Fullerton plays four of its final six regular-season games at home, but three of them are against the top three teams in the Big West: Pacific, Cal State Northridge and Utah State. Fullerton’s five-game winning streak ended with a subpar effort Saturday at Long Beach State. Senior Yaphett King has averaged 14.9 points in nine games at power forward since Hardy Asprilla suffered a season-ending knee injury. Guard Bobby Brown, the Titans’ leading scorer, has shot only 34.4% over the last eight games.

Utah State (18-6, 9-4) at UC Riverside (8-14, 3-9), 7 -- Fading Riverside, which has lost six of eight, tackles a Utah State squad steaming over its stunning loss to Pacific on Saturday after the Aggies blew an eight-point lead with 38 seconds left. The Highlanders have had a star-crossed season. The obvious blow has been the loss of star center Vili Morton to a major knee injury, but junior guard Matt Benson and three freshmen -- Houston Power, Justin Argenal and Daniel Fleming -- had to redshirt because of significant injuries. Utah State has won eight of the nine previous meetings with Riverside and has won its last four road games by an average of 27 points. The Aggies lead the nation in field-goal shooting at 53.6%.

UC Irvine (11-10, 5-8) at Long Beach State (5-18, 3-10), 7, KVMD (Ch. 23), KUCI-FM (88.9), KWRM (1370) -- Irvine will try to avoid the trap Fullerton fell into Saturday in going up against a motivated Long Beach team that can still make the Big West tournament. The 49ers are in ninth place, half a game behind Riverside, and four of their five victories have come at the Pyramid. Forward Shawn Hawkins snapped out of his offensive slump with 15 points in a 66-63 win over Fullerton. With five league games remaining, Irvine still has a clear shot at fifth place and an outside shot at fourth if it can pass the Titans in the upcoming weeks. Center Greg Ethington is coming off a strong week against Fullerton and UC Riverside, scoring 16 and 17 points respectively.

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-- Eric Stephens