Friday, March 7th, 11:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) -- San Diego, California. Television: None. Home Record: Portland 5-8, Pepperdine 4-6. Away Record: Portland 2-12, Pepperdine 5-12. Neutral Record: Portland 2-1, Pepperdine 1-2. Conference Record: Portland 3-11, Pepperdine 4-10. Series Record: Pepperdine leads, 51-25.

GAME NOTES: Two of the teams that have gone the longest without capturing the West Coast Conference Tournament title go after each other in the first round of the 22nd annual event tonight, as the Pilots from the University of Portland challenge the Pepperdine Waves at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego. The sixth-seeded Waves, who last wore the crown in 1994, come into the postseason having lost two in a row and three of their last four overall. The squad was crushed in the regular-season finale on Monday night in an 88-63 setback to San Francisco on the road. As for the seventh-seeded Pilots, winners of the 1996 tournament, they've been sporadic at best this season. Monday night saw the team fall to Saint Mary's by a score of 64-50, giving the team five losses in six games and leaving Portland with back-to-back wins just once in 2007-08. Pepperdine's 71-66 win over the Pilots on February 11th on the road snapped a five-game slide for the Waves versus Portland, which means Pepperdine now leads the all-time series by a count of 51-25. The winner of this meeting will be back in action on Saturday night in the quarterfinal round versus third-seed and host school San Diego.

Ranked second-to-last in the West Coast Conference in scoring this season with a mere 63.6 ppg, it should come as little surprise that Portland had just one double-digit scorer to turn to on a regular basis in Nik Raivio. Although he played less than 29 minutes per game, Raivio still found enough time to come up with 12.7 ppg. Coming off the bench until only recently, Robin Smeulders (9.9 ppg) could be counted on for significant scoring and was also second on the unit with 6.1 rpg, although his 20 assists over the course of 30 games is less than acceptable. Another issue for the Pilots was their interior defense because it produced just 66 blocked shots, which worked out to be only 2.2 per game and the fewest in the conference. Portland also had a problem with disrupting opponents in their offensive sets, coming up with just 5.17 steals per game to tie Santa Clara for last place in the WCC.

Although only a freshman, Malcolm Thomas made a name for himself in the league this year and was subsequently named to the All-WCC honorable mention squad and was a member of the WCC All-Freshman team as well. Because several players were unable to finish the season with the Waves, Thomas got the chance to start a team-best 26 games and along the way came up with 12.6 ppg to rank second on the unit. But perhaps more important than his point production was his work on the glass which placed him third in the league with 8.8 rpg. If there's a knock on Thomas, who has made good on 52.4 percent from the field, it is his 59.3 percent accuracy at the charity stripe. Tyrone Shelley accounts for 14.8 ppg and almost six rebounds per game, while Rico Tucker checks in with 10.7 ppg and is first on the unit with 94 assists and 65 steals, which proves he's an active performer at both ends of the floor.

Portland has been miserable on the road this season and doesn't score that many points, which is a recipe for disaster for the group tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Pepperdine 68, University of Portland 61