Gonzaga knows that West Coast Conference road games can be dangerous _ especially against Loyola Marymount.

The 16th-ranked Bulldogs (11-2, 1-0) look to avoid a repeat of last season's upset loss to the Lions (8-4, 0-0) as the teams meet at Gersten Pavilion on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount beat Gonzaga 80-74 last Feb. 8 in Los Angeles, handing the Bulldogs their first conference defeat of the season. The win, Loyola Marymount's first in 17 games against the Bulldogs, snapped Gonzaga's streak of 22 consecutive conference victories.

Along with the memory of last season's upset win, the Lions may have another advantage in this season's rematch - rest. Loyola Marymount's conference opener at Portland was postponed until Monday due to a winter storm, giving the Lions a few extra days off.

"They didn't play, that puts us at a competitive disadvantage," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.

The Bulldogs beat Pepperdine 87-70 Thursday in their conference opener for their fourth straight win since an 87-80 loss to No. 4 Stanford on Dec. 20.

"It's a huge win, without a doubt," said Cory Violette, who had team highs of 20 points and nine rebounds. "Every road win in conference is huge - especially at Pepperdine."

Blake Stepp scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half, and Kyle Bankhead and Errol Knight each added 10 points for Gonzaga, which went 28-of-47 (59.6 percent) from the field and outrebounded the Waves 44-25.

"That was one of our goals coming in, to get a good glass deficit on them," Violette said.

The Lions (8-4) are coming off a 78-54 win over Colgate on Jan. 2 - just their third victory in seven games. The victory gave Loyola Marymount its best non-conference record in eight seasons.

"It is great to be at 8-4 heading into conference play," said coach Steve Aggers. "I am proud of our defensive effort tonight. To hold this well-coached team to just 54 points is a great achievement for our team.

"We took away their 3-point field goal and played great perimeter defense."

Keith Kincade scored a team-high 18 points, and Chris Ayer recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Lions, whose scoring leader, Sherman Gay (15.8), added 16 points.

Gonzaga leads the all-time series 40-19, including a 15-11 edge in Los Angeles.