UC Davis’ Pepper adds spice to UH rematch

It should be no surprise the university with the nation’s top agricultural program is drawing attention for a red-hot Pepper.

Entering today’s basketball game against Hawaii, UC Davis guard Elijah Pepper is leading the Big West in scoring (20.3 points per game). He also tops the Aggies in rebounding (6.0) and assists (3.6).

“He’s an elite competitor,” UCD coach Jim Les said of the 6-foot-4, fourth-year junior. “He’s a hard worker. And he loves the moment. He loves the competition of the game, and he’s all about doing whatever it takes to win. Any time you’ve got a guy who leads in points, assists and rebounds, those are pretty high accolades. And he does it on many nights when he leads us in a lot of those categories.”

This season, Pepper has scored 28 or more points five times. Held to two points against Cal State Bakersfield, Pepper drew defenders away from teammates while managing four assists against zero turnovers.

Pepper was born in Australia — where his father played professionally — but grew up in Washington state. Pepper was a prolific scorer at Selah (Wash.) High.

“Part of recruiting him and getting him was being able to play to his strengths of not just being a good shooter, not just being a good scorer,” Les said. “It was being able to utilize his play-making abilities, his defensive abilities, his ability to get rebounds, and be a push guy. … It’s fun to coach him because of how hard he works, and the multitude of things he can do and places we can put him. It’s fun to come up with schemes to hopefully put him in positions to be successful.”

In the Big West opener on Dec. 29, Pepper struggled in the first half against Hawaii, then scored 12 of his 16 points after the intermission. The ’Bows won that game, but now are preparing for the rematch in California to start the second half of their Big West regular-season schedule. The ’Bows are in fourth place at 7-3 in league play.

After losing their first two Big West games, the Aggies won six of the next eight. “We’ve had some good moments playing good basketball,” Les said. “We’ve had a lot of close games. There were a couple we’d like back, a couple possessions. But probably everybody could say that. I like this group. They’re working hard. They’re playing well together. I think there’s so much parity in our league that on a given night, the margin of error is very small for either team.”

Ty (pronounced tee-why) Johnson, a 6-3 guard who transferred from Loyola Chicago, is averaging 15.7 points on 48.7% shooting in 10 Big West games.

“He can score at a high level, and do it in various ways,” Les said of Johnson. “And defensively, he has a really high IQ and really good anticipation. He’s made some big plays for us at that end.”

Christian Anigwe, a 6-9 post who had 21 points and eight rebounds against UH in December, and guard Robby Beasley did not play on Saturday because of undisclosed injuries. “They’re getting better and hopefully will be back to 100% health on Thursday, but that remains to be seen,” Les said. “They’re working hard, so we’re cautiously optimistic.”

Les said there are “subtle adjustments” when teams meet a second time.

“I don’t think there’s anything major,” Les said. “We are who we are, and Hawaii is who they are. It’s a matter of execution, and the players being able to adjust to each other. It’s possession by possession, just staying locked in, scheming offensively and defensively. The team that makes the fewest mistakes is usually the team that wins.”