2018-19 #WCChoops Schedule | WHAT WE LEARNED – WEEK THREE                                   
By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist

No matter the sport or the level it’s played on, coaches and players love to talk about adversity, how they faced it, overcame it and are the better for having gone through it. It’s a familiar narrative woven into the very fabric of athletic competition.

At least for the time being, don’t talk to Pepperdine student-athletes about adversity.

While a sprained ankle, a torn knee ligament and the firing of a coach may count as “adversity’’ in some places, all those associated with Pepperdine, the school and its sports teams, recently lived through the kind of adversity that was sad, tragic and terrifying all at once.

First there was the mass shooting on Nov. 7 at a nightclub in nearby Thousand Oaks popular among Pepperdine students, one of whom died. The next day, the Woolsey wildfire raged through Malibu canyon and reached the very edge of campus, forcing the evacuation of 7,800 students, including those who dribble a basketball and spike a volleyball as scholarship athletes.

Men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar was at home in nearby Calabasas on the other side of Malibu Canyon when the fire presented itself. Everyone in his neighborhood was told to get out and get out now.

“When we had to leave and had to evacuate, we could see the fire approaching,’’ Romar said. “We figured it was over. The fire came all the way to our street.’’

Romar and his wife, Lorena, spent the night sleeping in their car, parked in a strip mall. When they were able to return, their house was still standing.

Back on campus, students were initially told to shelter in place in Firestone Fieldhouse or the university library.

“We were basically (surrounded) by a ring of fire because of the irrigation on campus,’’ said basketball star Yasmine Robinson-Bacote, the leading scorer among West Coast Conference women at 23.8 per game. “It was really crazy. We just got back from Hawaii. We were happy to be back because we had a 10-day break and a chance to rest our bodies.’’

Continuing, the player known as Yas, said, “It was a lot of curveballs thrown at us. We had to evacuate to (a hotel in) Studio City for two weeks.’’

Because the Pepperdine campus was shut down from Nov. 8-25, the Waves’ women’s home game vs. UC Irvine on the 16^th was postponed. As December approaches, the Pepperdine women have still not played a home game at Firestone. Their first home game will come Dec. 5 vs. Weber State.

“Being displaced allowed us to be cooped up in a hotel for two weeks straight,’’ coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said. “We were able to do a lot of group bonding. It brought us closer. It was a commonality we all shared.’’

The Pepperdine women are surely the only team in the NCAA not to have had a home game this deep into the 2018-19 season. Nevertheless, the Waves started out 3-0 for the first time in 20 years and are currently 3-1.

“I just think we’re a resilient group of young women,’’ Robinson-Bacote said. “No matter what is thrown at us, we’re able to compartmentalize and focus on the goal at hand.’’

Robinson-Bacote did not have a goal to set a school single-game scoring record when the Waves played Sacramento State on Nov. 23 in a tournament at Cal Poly, but that’s exactly what happened as she poured in 47 points in a 113-97 victory in an up-tempo game in which the Hornets pressed and trapped relentlessly.

“That was a very unique game,’’ she said. “I’ve never played in a game like that. Sac State pressed us the whole time. It was a team effort. I had the opportunity to get the shots I did. Our guards were able to handle their pressure. They were definitely the reason I was able to have the night I did.’’

The Pepperdine men likewise had a game postponed, against Cal State Northridge, that will be played on Dec. 3. Their experience during the closure of campus was different than the women’s team in that they played a game at Northern Colorado on Nov. 13 and departed the next day for the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase for three games in three days.

The Waves were back at Firestone Fieldhouse on the 26^th for a game vs. Idaho State, a 97-82 victory that gave Romar’s team a 3-2 record going into Saturday’s home game against Abilene Christian.

“It was tough,’’ Romar said of the time away from campus. “I thought the guys stuck together and got through it. It was draining on them. Our guys handled it well.’’

When the Waves went to Northern Colorado, some players only had the clothes on their backs, having had no time to pack prior to evacuation. Romar and his staff took them to a sporting goods store in Denver, where they rang up a $1,000 tab on socks, shirts, sweatpants, jackets and other essentials.

“The process has been crazy with the tragedies, the shooting and the fire,’’ said sophomore guard Colbey Ross, fifth in the WCC in scoring at 20.4 per game. “It definitely brought us close as a team. We have each other’s backs even more. We’re close as a team, and that’s how it is on the court.’’

Ross and his teammates spent most of Nov. 8 in Firestone. That night, players stepped outside and “you could see the fire rolling over the hills,’’ Ross said. “Pepperdine was the safest place to be. The next day we were put in a hotel near LAX. … All the athletes at Pepperdine have brought us closer. We all experienced the same stuff.’’

That “same stuff’’ is real adversity. Most anything else pales in comparison. Don’t talk to the students at Pepperdine about adversity. They lived through it and came out the other side, never to forget November 2018.