The Long Island University Sharks and the Pepperdine Waves meet Monday in college basketball action from Firestone Fieldhouse. LIU has only played one game so far, a 15-point loss to Air Force. As for Pepperdine, they took on Lafayette on Sunday. In that game, the Waves moved to 2-1 with a blowout win. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

LIU Sharks 

Long Island University was supposed to open up their season versus Fisk on Wednesday, but that game ended up getting cancelled. Instead we had an opener versus Air Force on Friday. LIU started out slowly in that one, getting outscored 43-27 in the first half. The Sharks got better from there with 40 more points but still ended up losing 82-67. 

Leading the scoring for the Sharks in the opener loss was RJ Greene, who turned in 12 points and seven rebounds. Terell Strickland added 11 points with five assists, and Tana Kopa doubled up on 11 points with 10 boards. 

Pepperdine Waves 

Over on the Pepperdine side, they got off to a nice start this year versus Concordia, despite trailing 30-25 after the first half. The Waves regrouped with 51 points from there and won it 76-64. Game two versus UC Davis wasn’t so great however, as Pepperdine blew a 48-31 halftime lead in an eventual 79-78 defeat to fall to 1-1. 

The Waves will have a quick turnaround after facing off against Lafayette on Sunday. In that one, Pepperdine got off to a nice start with a 42-26 edge in the first half. After the break the Waves scored another 34 points in a 76-53 win. Michael Ajayi led the way by doubling up on 27 points with 11 rebounds. Malik Moore added 15 points, and Houston Mallette had 10 points with four rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll lean toward Pepperdine in this one, but I’m probably staying away. The line’s a little too thick to mess with anyway. The Waves have been fairly erratic so far this year, starting out slowly in the first half versus Concordia and ending slowly in the second during the UC Davis loss. Pepperdine ended up shooting 56 percent from the field against the Aggies with a 32-22 rebounding advantage but also coughed up 19 turnovers. On Sunday Pepperdine shot very well on 47.6 percent from the field and 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from 3-point range. The Waves also notched a 40-29 rebounding edge in a nice bounce-back effort. I like Pepperdine to keep it going in this one.