Pepperdine visits Barrett and Saint Mary's (CA)

Published Jan. 1, 2025 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Pepperdine Waves (6-9, 0-2 WCC) at Saint Mary's Gaels (11-3, 1-0 WCC)

Moraga, California; Thursday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Saint Mary's (CA) plays Pepperdine after Luke Barrett scored 20 points in Saint Mary's (CA)'s 70-60 victory against the Pacific Tigers.

The Gaels have gone 8-1 in home games. Saint Mary's (CA) leads the WCC in rebounding, averaging 37.9 boards. Paulius Murauskas paces the Gaels with 8.9 rebounds.

The Waves are 0-2 against WCC opponents. Pepperdine scores 75.7 points while outscoring opponents by 3.0 points per game.

Saint Mary's (CA) makes 44.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.2 percentage points higher than Pepperdine has allowed to its opponents (42.7%). Pepperdine averages 11.4 more points per game (75.7) than Saint Mary's (CA) allows to opponents (64.3).

The Gaels and Waves square off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Augustas Marciulionis is averaging 14.2 points and 6.4 assists for the Gaels.

Stefan Todorovic is averaging 19.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Waves.

LAST 10 GAMES: Gaels: 7-3, averaging 72.3 points, 38.5 rebounds, 16.7 assists, 6.8 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.5 points per game.

Waves: 5-5, averaging 81.1 points, 35.9 rebounds, 18.6 assists, 6.7 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 47.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.5 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.