Pepperdine University’s men’s basketball team lost to the University of San Diego with a final score of 83-63 on Thursday night at Jenny Craig Pavilion. The defeat leaves Pepperdine with a season record of 5-13 and winless in conference play at 0-5, while San Diego improves to 7-11 overall and 2-3 in the West Coast Conference.
The Waves trailed by eight points at halftime. The Toreros opened the second half with a strong 13-1 run, extending their lead to twenty points. Pepperdine managed to narrow the gap to twelve points later in the game, but San Diego maintained control with efficient shooting.
Styles Phipps led all players with 18 points, also contributing seven rebounds and six assists. He set a new personal best by making 12 out of 13 free throws. Luka Vudragovic came off the bench for Pepperdine, scoring 12 points, including an individual run of eight consecutive points in the second half.
“It was a tough night on the road for us,” said head coach Ed Schilling. “We were ice cold shooting and they shot it very well. We made a run midway through the second half and had a chance to cut into their lead, but we couldn’t get the key stops that we needed.”
The game began slowly on offense for both teams. Pavle Stosic scored first for Pepperdine after an assist from Yonatan Levy. Phipps then added four more points for Pepperdine before Nikola Radovanovic’s free throw gave them an early lead at 8-7. San Diego responded with an 11-point run as Pepperdine went nearly four minutes without scoring.
In the first half, Pepperdine drew fouls consistently and made frequent trips to the free throw line, scoring almost forty percent of its first-half points there. At halftime, San Diego led by eight after converting five three-pointers compared to just one from Pepperdine.
The Waves struggled offensively at the start of the second half and did not score their first field goal until nearly six minutes had passed. Vudragovic helped close the gap slightly with two consecutive three-pointers during his solo scoring run.
Despite efforts from Phipps and others, including Aaron Clark’s six points off the bench and Stefan Cicic’s perfect shooting paired with two blocks, San Diego sustained its double-digit advantage throughout most of the game.
San Diego finished shooting over fifty percent from the field (32-for-59) and made eleven three-pointers compared to five from Pepperdine.
Pepperdine recorded several statistical highlights:
– Styles Phipps posted a game-high in both points (18) and rebounds (seven), along with six assists.
– Luka Vudragovic scored twelve off the bench on efficient shooting.
– Aaron Clark contributed six points and four assists as a substitute.
– Stefan Cicic had six points without missing a shot and added two blocks.
– The Waves assisted on sixteen of their nineteen made baskets.
– The team set a season-best for conference games with twenty-six bench points.
Pepperdine will return home Saturday for its next matchup against San Francisco at Firestone Fieldhouse.
According to program history, Pepperdine men’s basketball has appeared in thirteen NCAA postseason tournaments and has won twelve regular-season conference titles along with three tournament championships. The program most recently won the CBI Tournament in 2021 and has produced nineteen All-Americans as well as nineteen NBA players over its history.
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