STOCKTON Calif. – West Coast Conference action begins Thursday for the Pacific men's basketball program when it faces San Francisco at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
Pacific (6-9, 0-0 WCC) and San Francisco (11-4, 0-0) is a matchup that dates back to 1911-12, and both schools are charter members of the West Coast Conference when the league began in 1952.
 
The Tigers are looking to continue their success at home this year where they are 5-4. They've won back-to-back home games against Stanislaus State and Cal Maritime. Pacific is 804-444 all-time at home and 341-211 in the Spanos Center.
 
Pacific's non-conference slate was highlighted by an 87-79 road victory over Cal on Nov. 10. It was the first win over Cal in 11 tries dating back to Dec. 10, 1954 when the Tigers won 82-77 in Berkeley 69 seasons ago. It was Pacific's first win over a Pac-12 opponent since Dec. 17, 1994 when it beat Oregon State at home 72-66.
 
Sophomore Moe Odum ranks second in the West Coast Conference in both assists (4.5 apg) and assist:turnover ratio (2.4), and is fourth in the league in steals (1.5 spg). Odum dished out 10 assists in a victory over Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 26, which matched his career-high.
 
Senior Nick Blake has provided a spark for Pacific since his return. He's played the last four games and is averaging a team-high 12.0 points per game and shoots .417 from long range.
 
Senior Judson Martindale averages 10.5 points per game. He shoots .800 (24-30) from the free throw line and also leads the team in 3FGM with 21. Martindale poured in a season-high 21 points at Northern Arizona.
 
Junior Cam Denson is coming off back-to-back double-figure scoring games. It included his first career double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds at CSU Fullerton. He's the first Tiger to record a double-double in a game this year.
 
The Dons enter play as the highest ranked team in the WCC at No. 39 nationally in the NCAA Net Rankings. San Francisco has a pair of Power Five wins over Minnesota 76-58 and Vanderbilt 73-60. The team is coming off a 92-42 victory over Mississippi Valley State.
 
San Francisco ranks seventh in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 59.3 points per game. Individually, Marcus Williams leads the team with 14.3 points per game, while Jonathan Mogbo averages a double-double of 13.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
 
The game can be watched live on ESPN+ with Zack Bayrouty and Bob Thomason on the call. It can also be heard live on Fox Sports AM 1280 with Dennis Ackerman as talent.
 
NOTES
- The Tigers are looking to win their conference opener for the first time since 2020-21.
 
- The Tigers are 5-1 this season when they record a positive turnover margin, 5-2 when they make more threes than the opposition and 5-1 when leading at half. In three seasons under Perry, Pacific is 22-11 when it makes more threes and 25-8 when leading at half.
 
- In three seasons under head coach Leonard Perry, the Tigers are 6-0 when holding the opposition to under 60 points.
 
- Pacific is 3-1 this season in games decided by one possession (three points or less).
 
- The Tigers rank second in the West Coast Conference in steals with 7.3 per game. They grabbed a season-high 14 in their last outing against Cal Maritime.
 
- The Tigers have used eight different starting lineups in 14 games this year.
 
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