The Pepperdine Waves and the Pacific Tigers meet Thursday in college basketball action from Alex G. Spanos Center. Pepperdine sits at 7-16 so far this year. The Waves lost to LMU in their last outing. As for Pacific, they’re 11-12 on the season following a win over Santa Clara on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Pepperdine Waves
Pepperdine started the year on a 7-8 run with wins over Rice, Alabama State, Vanguard, UC Irvine, Northern AZ, Cal State LA and George Washington. The Waves are currently on a 10-game losing streak, most recently falling to LMU.
On Saturday in the LMU matchup, Pepperdine trailed 48-40 going into the second half. The Waves didn’t get any closer on a 36-30 deficit from there and lost 84-70. Maxwell Lewis was tops in scoring on 21 points and seven boards.
Pacific Tigers
Over on the Pacific side, they beat ND State, North Dakota, UC Davis, Fresno State, Stan State, SJSU and Lamar in their first 16 games. The Tigers are 4-3 since then with losses to Santa Clara, San Francisco and Gonzaga.
Matched up against Santa Clara on Saturday, the Tigers jumped out to a 46-39 halftime lead. Pacific scored another 49 points in the second half and won the game 95-89. Leading scorer Keylan Boone managed 27 points and three rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stay with Pacific. The Tigers took a few rough losses to Santa Clara, San Francisco and Gonzaga recently, but outside of that they’ve been playing well over the last seven games or so. Pacific managed an 80-75 win the last time these teams met up back on January 7 at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Tigers scored 40 points in each half there. As for the Waves, they’ve hit 70 or more points in eight of their last nine outings, so offense really isn’t the problem. This one should be another high-scoring shootout, and I like Pacific to power out the cover.