Colorado at Pepperdine (pick) - 7:30pm Pacific

The Waves have a very good basketball team this year.  Insiders call it perhaps their best and deepest team ever.  If you still don't believe it, take a look at the non-conference schedule Paul Westphal has lined up.  They take on Dayton and Colorado at home and play Oklahoma State, Maryland, UCSB, Colorado State, Utah, and UC Irvine all on the road.  They will also participate in the Rainbow Classic.  Last year Pepperdine was decimated by injuries with three key starters being lost early in the season.  They still managed a 15-13 record and finished 4th in the WCC.  Many young players got minutes they otherwise would not have and that experience will pay off this year.  Most notable being 6-5 combo guard Alex Acker who earned conference freshman of the year honors.  Acker is strong and athletic with a nice shot making him a difficult matchup for anyone.  Junior Terrance Johnson was conference freshman of the year before Acker and last year earned all conference honors.  He actually is starting this season coming off the bench, that is how deep this team is.  Jet quick freshman point guard Shaun Davis earned the start in season opener.  He drew a tough assignment for his first college game going against Dayton senior Ramod Marshall.  He finished a disappointing 2-for-9 from the field but dished out 9 assists in only 25 minutes.  I expect him to play much better with a game under his belt and facing much less tougher guards tonight.  Starting center Jesse Pinegar (BYU transfer) also shot poorly (3-for-10) in his first game in a Pepperdine uniform but you could tell he has a nice stroke and is very active around the basket.  His quickness and outside shooting make him a difficult matchup for any opposing center.  I look for him to have a much better game tonight as well.  Senior F/C Glen McGowan (26 points in opener) is back after missing almost all of last season with injury.  He can score both inside and out and takes this team to another level.  Junior forward Robert Turner is another active athletic player and rebounder.  6-10 sophomore Derick Grub gives the Waves another big body and five more fouls to throw at CU center Harrison.  I am not counting on JC transfer forward Yakhouba Diawara playing, he is questionable awaiting an eligibility ruling.  If he is able to play its another boost.

 

Colorado is coming off a seemingly nice road win at Northwestern but is hard to give them much credit for it.  The Wildcats were undersized and undermanned.  Their starting center is recovering from injury and only played one minute.  Northwestern did not start a player over 6-8 and only managed two bench points.  Still, the Cats led by 5 at half-time and for a good part of the second half before giving way.  Northwestern shot 7-for-29 in the second half and only managed 3 field goals in the final 13 minutes.  It may have been due in part to good Colorado defense, but the Cats also missed 7 free throws in the second half after shooting 100% in the first.  The final margin of 11 points is misleading.

 

Pepperdine lost its season opener to a very good Dayton team (defending A-10 champions).  The Flyers have two experienced guards that made good decisions and controlled tempo of the game.  Dayton senior Marshall and junior Jones were almost interchangeable at the point.  Dayton big man Finn also surprised everyone with his inside presence (19 points, looked much better than he did a season ago).  Dayton outscored Pepperdine by 24 at the free throw line.  The Waves missed 10 of their first 11 shots and trailed by as many as 16 in the first half.  Even with all of that Pepperdine fought their way back to trail by only 4 on two occasions in the second half but could get no closer.  Pepperdine made adjustments and did a much better job in the second half defending Finn in the low post with fronting and double teams.  That experience should have them much better prepared for Colorado big man Harrison.  CU's Harrison only managed 10 points vs Northwestern despite having a big size advantage.  He is going to have a tough time keeping up with Pepperdine's mobile centers on the defensive end.  Unlike Dayton, Colorado does not have strong guard play.  Sophomore Antione McGee got the start at point vs Northwestern and went scoreless.  Freshman Marcus Hall actually got most of the point guard minutes.  Neither is very experienced or very good.  Shooting guard Blair Wilson is strictly a shooter and not much of a ball handler.  Despite their opening win, Colorado is a very poor road team.  They are just 7-21 outright and 10-17 ATS the last two years away from home.  They are 19-49 outright and 25-41 ATS away from home the last five years. 

 

Pepperdine needed their first game and it was against a very tough opponent.  They fought admirably after getting off to a horrible start.  I look for them to play much better tonight.  They really want and need this win.  Quote from head coach Paul Westphal in Daily News "I know we can play so much better."  Colorado is a poor road team and will be playing their second straight road game in four days making a trip from Illinois to the west coast.  The Waves are an impressive 60-15 (80%) at 3,104 seat Firestone Fieldhouse since 97-98 season.  I really like the way Pepperdine matches up here.  Go Waves.

 

Pepperdine  2 UNITS