Pepperdine Drowns as Gonzaga Dominates

MALIBU, Jan 14 – Pepperdine was supposed to host Gonzaga for their second West Coast Conference (WCC) game on Monday night. The game, though, turned into a basketball clinic as the Bulldogs took Pepperdine to school.

Pepperdine entered the game with negative expectations, and their predictions turned out to be absolutely correct. The WCC Preseason Coaches’ poll predicted The Waves to finish sixth in a league of eight. From the looks of it on Monday, Pepperdine has accepted their destiny. Why?

Gonzaga on the other hand expects to finish first in the WCC and they showed it all night long. Ignoring some sloppy play in the first half due to a break-neck pace (we’re talking fast here!), Gonzaga found the bottom of the net on nearly every three-point shot taken. They came down with the 50/50 rebounds, gathered the loose balls, and countered The Waves with reckless abandon. The Bulldogs entered the game knowing they would dominate and they never hesitated to ask for Pepperdine’s opinion.

Not much can be learned from a game in which one team provides almost no resistance. Gonzaga showed it could beat the stuffing out of their WCC little brothers and Pepperdine wasted a perfect opportunity to triumph with national exposure. The take-away message from this game does not come from the game itself but from how these two teams will handle their next opponents after such a lopsided contest.