Pepperdine Basketball looks to pull off a major upset against the UCLA Bruins.
Pepperdine Basketball is coming off of a fourteen-point win over UC Irvine. The Waves were led by Kessler Edwards who had 20 points on 6-12 from the field. Talented point guard Colbey Ross added 13 points and eight assists. Although UC Irvine was within five at the half, it seemed as if Pepperdine was always in control. They shot it at a 50% clip from the field and led by 23 at one point in the second half.
The UCLA Bruins, on the other hand, suffered a fourteen-point loss to San Diego State to open the year. Not a lot went right for the Bruins, who turned the ball over a whole lot, and shot the ball at 28% in the final 32 minutes of the contest.
This highly anticipated in-state matchup will be one that Vegas favors UCLA quite heavily. However, Lorenzo Romar’s Waves have very different plans. It’s hard to believe that Romar has been in Malibu for five whole years now, but this looks like his best chance to make some noise.
This team has a real chance to be top two in the WCC if things go right and the team stays healthy. There were worries after Skylar Chavez opted out of the 2020-21 season, but Jade’ Smith hopped into that place without missing a beat going, 4-5 from the field in the opener.
Pepperdine has quite a different opponent in the Bruins than they saw in UC Irvine. UCLA has top-caliber talent and a few guys who could be playing in the NBA in a couple of years. Mick Cronin’s Bruins finished last season red-hot but struggled against SDSU in the opener.
Here are a few keys to the game for the Waves to knock off UCLA in game two of the 2020-21 season:
1. Limiting Chris Smith
On Wednesday, Chris Smith was nonexistent in UCLA’s road loss to San Diego State. He picked up a few early fouls that limited his time on the floor. Even when Smith was out there, he only went 0-1 in the second half due to SDSU really keying up on him and forcing other people to score. Without Smith producing, UCLA had essentially no functionality on offense. They turned the ball over, forced up contested perimeter shots, and lacked an offensive identity without Smith.
Pepperdine will likely throw a mixture of Kessler Edwards and Jade’ Smith at Chris Smith. Last year, the Waves didn’t have a lot of success in locking down over-talented perimeter players. Their overall scoring defense was good for just 327th nationally. However, in their win over UC Irvine, the Waves held Irvine’s highest-touted perimeter threat, Collin Welp, to just 4-16 from the floor.
If Pepperdine can hold Chris Smith in check, they will have a very good chance to turn some heads in this one. Although that is not the easiest feat, Lorenzo Romar seems to have very high spirits about this team’s defensive tenacity. Smith can shoot it from deep, penetrate, and has a 6’9 frame and solid ball-handling abilities. He is UCLA’s ‘do it all’ man, similar to Edwards does for Pepperdine.
Another way to keep Smith off his game, is to attack him on defense. With tendencies to hand-check, Smith’s game against SDSU wasn’t his first in foul trouble. If Edwards can attack the rim and put some pressure on Smith on one end, the other end of his game may be hampered as well.
2. Keeping UCLA off the Free-Throw Line
Pepperdine shot 14-15 from the charity stripe against Irvine, while UCLA managed to get to the line 24 times while sinking 17 of them against SDSU. If Pepperdine can keep UCLA off of the line, despite their physicality, this would bode very well for them. The majority of the Bruin offense came from the stripe in the entire second half. If they are able to get 25 to 30 free throw attempts this time around, expect UCLA to win this one with ease.
Pepperdine does lose some size down low, especially if Jalen Hill suits up for the Bruins (knee). They’ll have to be tough down low and rebound the basketball well to keep UCLA off the charity stripe. The Waves had a plus-6 rebounding margin in their last contest, while UCLA was minus-6. Once again, if Hill is in the lineup and Smith was able to be on the floor more, that number would have been much different.
Look for Kessler Edwards to get to the bucket and draw some fouls. Colbey Ross is the WCC’s premier point guard and has a knack for finding the open guy while penetrating. Creating movement is something that will be key for winning this free throw battle.
With not a whole lot of depth in the frontcourt, it becomes even more vital that they keep out of foul trouble. The big-men for UCLA, notably Cody Riley, will force the issue down low and try to draw contact. Ohia Obioha and Chukwaka need to maintain their composure and keep out of falling into Riley’s game plan. If they can both stay on the court while keeping Riley off the free throw line, the Waves could see a 2-0 start to the year.
3. Ball Security
Taking care of the basketball is always important, but in this game, the turnover margin will be increasingly important. A major reason why San Diego State faired so well against UCLA is how many turnovers and mistakes they caused. UCLA had fifteen turnovers, which led to a few key three-pointers to seal the game.
The Bruins will shoot the ball better in this one, which makes the turnover margin even more important. If you can limit the quality post touches, the Bruins seem to get flustered offensively and force things.
The Waves had ten turnovers themselves against UC Irvine. Seven of those came from Ross and Edwards; not the numbers you want for your two stars. Last season, Mick Cronin’s team drew a lot of enthusiasm and fire from creating mistakes while on defense.
If Pepperdine can limit these momentum-swinging turnovers, it’ll likely lead to Waves’ win. When playing a more talented team like UCLA is, you cannot do things like losing the turnover battle. This is where Pepperdine needs to gain some possessions.
Although a better performance tonight is expected, UCLA simply is not a great shooting team. If you force the Bruins to work for every single bucket, they’re not going to put up crazy numbers. So, limiting those transition buckets off of turnovers really limits how much the Bruins can put up on the scoreboard. Putting points up is something we know the Waves have no problem doing.
The UCLA – Pepperdine game tips off at 12:00 pm PT and will be televised on Pac-12 Network.