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Throughout the 2002-2003 season, the men’s basketball team has showed its fans that when players perform to their potential, they can be good. Really good.
But when they don’t, when players have off games and the team gets away from the basics —shooting, defending and rebounding — that’s when bad things happen.
The Waves kicked off this weekend by taking its revenge on the University of San Diego, a team that had beaten them at home earlier this season. In a high-intensity game jam-packed with scoring, Pepperdine used 16 three-pointers (one shy of the single game school record) and a stifling defense to beat the Toreros on their home floor 98-93.
Then, just two days later, the Waves dropped a crucial conference game to lower-ranked Santa Clara 73-61, a team rated last in the conference in nearly every statistic, including offense. The loss kept the Waves at the No. 5 spot in the conference and dashed any hopes of a second-place WCC finish.
After the defeat, Head Coach Paul Westphal said the stark contrast between the two games was just a matter of players not performing to their level.
“To win, we don’t need all our guys to play great, we just need everyone to play to their potential and that just didn’t happen that night,” Westphal said. “But that’s basketball, that’s why they play the game. Some days are just better than others.”
For the first time in almost two weeks, a bigger opponent exploited the Waves inside deficiencies. Pepperdine was outscored 15-0 on second-chance points, and were out rebounded by an incredible margin of 43-29. Three of the Broncos’ big men, including starting center Jim Howell who finished with a game-high 19, scored in double figures.
“We couldn’t match them on the boards, and we couldn’t execute offensively,” Westphal said. “They also played real well, and all of that combined lead to the loss.”
Coming off its best output of the season, the Waves offense was almost non existent. After a night when five of the seven players finished with double figures, the team got almost all its scoring from either sophomore Terrance Johnson or freshman Alex Acker; they finished with 21 and 16 points respectively.
Coming off a career-high 21 points (five for 10 on three-pointers), senior Mike Westphal was only able to manage five points.
“There was no energy in our team like we had against San Diego,” Westphal said. “It’s hard to tell with our team what the problem is sometimes … we’re just so erratic.”
With just three home games left in their college careers, seniors like Westphal, Jimmy Miggins and Dustin Johnson are getting anxious to see the team play to its potential every night.
“I don’t think we came to play against Santa Clara,” Johnson said. “We came out a bit lackadaisical, and we didn’t crash the boards or box out like we should have … we need to realize this year that we aren’t going to have games handed to us, we have to work a lot harder this year.”
Miggins, who hit a three-pointer Saturday night to seal the win against USD, said it’s real important the team learn from both the week’s big win, and its loss.
“If we play like we saw against San Diego, then we can beat anybody in the conference. We need to stop talking and just do it. If we do, I think we can still take the conference tournament and make it to the NCAAs,” Miggins said.
The Waves’ final three games will be at home against Loyola Marymount, St. Mary’s and San Francisco. If they win all three, the Waves still hold a chance of finishing third or fourth in the conference, assuring themselves a first-round bye in WCC tournament.
“Everyone is a tough game for us,”Coach Westphal said.
Johnson, who has been playing in the WCC the past four years, noted the improvement of teams like San Diego and St. Mary’s.
“Since I’ve been playing, the conference has gotten so much stronger,” Johnson said. “It used to be you knew one or two games were give-ins, but not anymore.”
One big bright spot for the Waves has been the continually improving play of sophomore Terrence Johnson, who has been burning opponents with his lightening quick release and deadly accuracy.
In his last three games, the sophomore has averaged 17 points a game and shot 11-for-21 from outside the arc.
“He been playing very well, and I think that’s a result of us doing a better job moving the ball and being patient,” Coach Westphal said. “When he catches the ball in a better position to shoot, he’ll shoot better.”
Mike Westphal said he thinks the final games of the season will come down to defense, not scoring.
“Offensively, it really doesn’t matter what we do, we have so many guys that can score, that if we move the ball, we’re going to put points on the board,” the guard said. “What we need to do is to guard guys on the other side of the floor and get rebounds.
“We’ve got to win these last three games,” Miggins said about his team’s remaining schedule. “We can’t let LMU win because it would make their whole season, and beating (St. Mary’s and USF), that’s just payback.”
Submitted February 20, 2003
MALIBU, CA
