For whatever reason — maybe Malibu’s balmy climes and picturesque beaches have posed a distraction or perhaps career performances by a variety of Pepperdine players may explain it — BYU has struggled at Firestone Fieldhouse over the years.
In the Cougars’ final appearance there as members of the West Coast Conference Thursday, they imploded down the stretch, resulting in yet another disappointing outcome in Malibu.
BYU has hung its hat on defense all season long. But the last-place Waves were unstoppable in a 92-80 victory.
It marked the most points that the Cougars have allowed this season.
And keep in mind this was a Pepperdine team that had lost 11 games in a row before beating Portland in double-overtime in miraculous fashion Saturday to earn its first WCC win of the season.
Thursday, the Waves didn’t need any miracles. Just a flurry of baskets, including a bunch of 3-pointers, sufficed.
Freshman Jevon Porter poured in a career-high 30 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. And he grabbed 10 rebounds.
“We’ve had a tough go with really explosive backcourts,” BYU coach Mark Pope told BYU Radio. “Today, it was Pepperdine’s four and five that really just destroyed us. Porter, the young, talented freshman, he rattled off 15 points in the first 10 minutes of the game and kind of put us on our heels.”
Last year, Houston Mallette poured in a career-high 31 against BYU. Thursday, he had 22 — and 20 of those came in the second half. He also hit 3 of 8 from 3-point territory.
With nine minutes left, Mallette’s 35-foot alley-oop pass intended for Jan Zidek settled in the net for an inadvertent 3-pointer to give the Waves a 65-58 lead.
It was that kind of night for Pepperdine.
Zidek, who also made three 3-pointers, came off the bench to score 14 points and Mike Mitchell added 13, including two from behind the arc.
As a team, the Waves shot 57% from the floor and knocked down 11 of 24 3-pointers. They also had 22 assists on 33 field goals.
“It was a continual barrage of some defensive breakdowns,” Pope said. “We could never right the ship that way. Pepperdine is a talented, young team. We knew they’re super capable scoring the ball and we could not find answers on the defensive end.”
The Cougars entered the night in a third-place tie with Loyola Marymount. BYU (16-11, 6-6) dropped to fifth place while LMU is all alone in third after upsetting No. 15 Saint Mary’s Thursday.
The Cougars’ two-game winning streak is over. Now, Pepperdine (9-18, 2-10) is on a two-game winning streak.
The Waves’ leading scorer, Maxwell Lewis, was averaging 18 points per game. He finished with five points. But on this night, Pepperdine didn’t need much production from Lewis.
“The deal with Max was, everybody else had it going so he didn’t really need to get anything going,” Pope said. “We continue to need to grow in this space. We’re a good defensive team. We’re a top-35 defensive team. But, man, we have an Achilles heel right now in terms of explosive perimeter players that we’ve got to answer.”
BYU seemed to take control midway through the first half with an 8-0 run to go up by nine points, 34-25.
But Pepperdine wrested control back by scoring 10 consecutive points as part of a 13-1 run. During that stretch, the Cougars’ defense, and offense, disappeared and the Waves went up 38-35.
“We were in a little bit of a good spot midway through the first half and we let some things get away from us,” Pope said. “We gave up 22 assists, which is very uncharacteristic of the way we play.”
After going nearly five minutes without a field goal, BYU ended the half with a Jaxson Robinson jumper and a traditional 3-point play by Fousseyni Traore.
Pepperdine went into the locker room at halftime with a 41-40 edge. At intermission, Porter had a game-high 19 points.
In the second half, the Waves continued to roll and the Cougars were swamped.
“They have really good, young players,” Pope said. “They’re really dangerous. On the night that they make shots, they’re really dangerous. They made some easy shots and they made some tough shots.”
BYU cut the deficit to 72-71 after a Robinson dunk, but it could get no closer. From there, Pepperdine extended its lead to double-digits after big shots by Porter and Mallette.
The Cougars were led by Traore’s 19 points and six rebounds. Gideon George had 13 points and seven boards.
BYU is now 2-4 on the road in WCC play this season. The Cougars haven’t figured out how to play with the same urgency and consistency as they have at the Marriott Center.
Pope said his team is trying to figure out how to win on the road.
“It’s understanding the mentality and it comes with experience. Right now, we’re having a tough time winning outside of our building. Unfortunately, it comes with painful, painful experience,” he said.
“We have a young group. We don’t have a lot of guys that know what it takes to win on the road. We’re just having to go get punched in the face and embarrassed a little bit and beat down a little bit. Unfortunately, sometimes, that’s the way you learn. You start to understand just how challenging it is. We’re in that process right now. The good thing about our guys is, they’re growing. But these lessons this year are super painful. They’ll play dividends down the road. Learning is hard.”
BYU visits No. 16 Gonzaga Saturday.
TIP-INS: The Cougars finished 6-6 at Firestone Fieldhouse as members of WCC … Robinson has now hit at least one 3-pointer in 14 straight games … Robinson finished with nine points on 1 of 7 shooting from 3-point range … Dallin Hall had 12 points and Rudi Williams finished with 10.