Saturday, February 28th, 5:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104) -- Malibu, California. Television: None. Home Record: USF 7-5, Pepperdine 5-9. Away Record: USF 2-13, Pepperdine 2-11. Neutral Record: USF 1-0, Pepperdine 1-1. Conference Record: USF 2-11, Pepperdine 5-8. Series Record: San Francisco leads, 64-46.

GAME NOTES: A couple of West Coast Conference foes close out the 2008-09 regular season this afternoon, as the Pepperdine Waves welcome the San Francisco Dons to Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu. Pepperdine, which enters the weekend slotted sixth in the conference standings with a record of 5-8, is now dealing with a three-game slide after bowing to Saint Mary's on Thursday night in a 62-49 final at home. As for the Dons, they too were in action two nights ago, dropping a 61-57 decision to Loyola Marymount. The Lions had entered the week with just a single league victory, but led from start to finish against USF at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. The loss was the fifth in the last six games for a San Francisco program that has won just three times since the middle of December. Pepperdine won the first meeting of the season between these two programs back on January 29th with a 69-67 triumph on the road, which means the all-time series now leans in favor of the Dons, 64-46.

Far from a dominating presence this season, Loyola Marymount still had what it took to grab the four-point win against the Dons on Thursday night. Part of the problem for USF was that the unit was supported by just a single point off the bench, leaving Kwame Vaughn (18 points), Dior Lowhorn (16) and Blake Wallace (12) to shoulder much of the pressure for the visitors. Lowhorn has been the standard bearer for the Dons this season with his 19.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest, shooting an impressive 45.1 percent behind the three- point line in order to force defenders to close up on him when he gets the ball on the outside. Vaughn offers up another 10.5 ppg, but shooting just 26.8 percent behind the three-point line and fouling out of four games hasn't helped matters, then again neither has the suspension of Manny Quezada (10.6 ppg) the last couple of weeks either.

Pepperdine stumbled around with just eight field goals in the first half, shooting a mere 1-of-6 behind the three-point line, en route to the double- digit loss to the Saint Mary's Gaels at home on Thursday night. The lone bright spots for the Waves were Mychel Thompson and Lorne Jackson who tallied 15 and 10 points, respectively, the latter doing so in just nine minutes off the bench. Thompson has had a couple of impressive efforts this season, but for the most part he'll have to settle for having shot a mere 35.1 percent from the floor and 32.4 percent out on the perimeter on his way to 9.8 ppg. Keion Bell is the top scorer for the program with 12.4 ppg, but he too has had his issues from three-point range (.271) and complicated matters by having issued nearly twice as many turnovers (115) as assists (63) over the course of 29 games. Then again the team as a whole, in addition to being outscored by almost 12 ppg, averages nearly 17 miscues per contest.

Dealing with a short roster is something that brings the Dons down to the level of Pepperdine for this season finale, but that doesn't mean the Waves still can't go out with a bang.

Predicted Outcome

Pepperdine 67, San Francisco 64