Saxen, No. 18 Saint Mary's Gaels to host Ajayi and the Pepperdine Waves
Pepperdine Waves (10-16, 3-8 WCC) at Saint Mary's Gaels (20-6, 11-0 WCC)
Moraga, California; Thursday, 11 p.m. EST
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Gaels -18.5; over/under is 132.5
BOTTOM LINE: Michael Ajayi and the Pepperdine Waves take on Mitchell Saxen and the No. 18 Saint Mary's Gaels in WCC play Thursday.
The Gaels are 11-3 on their home court. Saint Mary's (CA) is 3-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Waves have gone 3-8 against WCC opponents. Pepperdine has a 7-8 record in games decided by at least 10 points.
Saint Mary's (CA) scores 73.1 points per game, 0.9 fewer points than the 74.0 Pepperdine allows. Pepperdine averages 14.8 more points per game (72.5) than Saint Mary's (CA) allows to opponents (57.7).
The Gaels and Waves match up Thursday for the first time in WCC play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Saxen is averaging 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Gaels. Aidan Mahaney is averaging 14.9 points over the last 10 games for Saint Mary's (CA).
Ajayi is averaging 17.2 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Waves. Houston Mallette is averaging 2.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Pepperdine.
LAST 10 GAMES: Gaels: 10-0, averaging 76.5 points, 38.0 rebounds, 16.2 assists, 6.5 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 47.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 55.1 points per game.
Waves: 3-7, averaging 74.3 points, 31.5 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 5.2 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.6 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
