He Got Waves Up to Speed

Paul Westphal planned to be an author this year, sitting on the sand near his Manhattan Beach home and writing a book about his life as an NBA coach and player.

His autobiography, if he ever gets back to it, just got better, one of the chapters all but written when Pepperdine, in Westphal’s third game as coach, stunned UCLA on Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

Relying heavily on junior college transfers and redshirt freshmen--many of them overlooked by UCLA during the recruiting process--Pepperdine threw waves of pressure at the Bruins, forcing turnovers, beating them to seemingly every loose ball, and shutting off entry lanes to post man Dan Gadzuric, who scored only three points.

“It was quickness beating strength,” Westphal said. “Our press bothered them and their press didn’t bother us. We were able to play the type of game we wanted to.”

Westphal would have enjoyed the 85-78 victory even if he wasn’t coaching, because his son, Mike, is a junior who is a reserve guard for Pepperdine.

Of course, being on the sideline himself made it even better. Westphal last coached in college in 1988, when he guided Grand Canyon College to an NAIA championship.

He expected to make Pepperdine a big winner--but maybe not this fast. Westphal, with a five-year contract, had time on his side--and a ready-made excuse when star guard Brandon Armstrong declared for the NBA draft after his junior season.

But the Waves crashed Westphal’s timetable Wednesday. Shedding, for one night anyway, the “mid-major” label affixed to schools that play in smaller conferences, Pepperdine was mentally sharper than UCLA, bouncing back from a potentially disheartening double-overtime 96-93 loss to UC Irvine on Nov. 20.

And even though it hasn’t won a West Coast Conference title since 1993, Pepperdine wasn’t intimidated by the sea of blue-and-gold NCAA championship banners hanging at Pauley.

“I was proud of the way our guys reacted,” Westphal said. “We were huge underdogs, but our guys acted [afterward] like they weren’t surprised they won.”

Westphal, 50, was perfectly willing to take this year off, living the breezy life of a South Bay sandal-wearer while living in Southern California full-time for the first time since he played at USC.

His coaching tenure with the Seattle SuperSonics ended in tumult last year, 15 games into his third season, and he was ready for a break.

Then Pepperdine came calling, looking for a replacement for Jan van Breda Kolff, who had bolted for St. Bonaventure and became the latest coach to do a two-year tango--or less--with Pepperdine.

Westphal, a five-time NBA all-star guard who also coached the Phoenix Suns, is the Waves’ fifth coach since 1994.

One of the first items on his clipboard was to blend together a team that had some well-traveled players.

Forward Jimmy Miggins, who led the Waves with 20 points and 11 rebounds against UCLA, played at Riverside Arlington High, then embarked on a journey that took him to San Jose State, Santa Monica College and L.A. City College.

Miggins, a 6-foot-6 junior, has found a home at Pepperdine under Westphal.

“He has coached and played at the highest level,” Miggins said. “It’s great to listen to him. You know everything he says is right. You just want to go out and perform.”

Guard Devin Montgomery, who had 10 points and five assists against UCLA, went from Mission Hills Alemany High to Duquesne to Moorpark College before settling at Pepperdine.

“Me and the some of the other L.A. guys have been waiting for this game the whole time we’ve been practicing,” Montgomery said. “Everyone’s grown up watching UCLA and we all wanted to go there at one time or another in our lifetime.

“We wanted to come out and show them we can play. We knew we had some speed mismatches. Nothing personal, just business.”

All this with one of the Waves’ top players, sophomore Glen McGowan, suspended from school for the semester because he instigated a fight with teammate Will Kimble in the campus library in September. McGowan is expected to return to the team in January.

But before Pepperdine is overnight-expressed an invitation to the NCAA tournament, consider that Wednesday’s result might have said less about the Waves than it did about the Bruins: UCLA also lost to a smaller-profile local school last year, falling to Cal State Northridge, 78-74, at Pauley.

And the Waves face a schedule that includes Arizona, USC, Utah, Brigham Young, two conference games against Gonzaga and an emotional game at home against Georgia and Jim Harrick, the Waves’ coach from 1979-88.

“When you look at the caliber of teams we play, there are many, many games we won’t be favored, just like [Wednesday] night,” Westphal said.

“We can’t get cocky.”

But progress is being made. Pepperdine’s season might make an interesting novella.

“I’m really pleased that our guys are tuned in,” Westphal said. “They’re improving and confident in where they can go.”