As the UCLA men’s basketball team heads to the Bay Area to face versatile California and Stanford teams, it could definitely use a lift from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
But the status of the sophomore forward, who missed the Bruins’ last game against Arizona because of a sprained knee, is still up in the air for this weekend’s games.
Mbah a Moute has been doing elliptical workouts but did not practice on Tuesday. He is hoping to test the knee a little bit in practice today to determine whether or not he will be able to play against California on Thursday.
“I hope he is available to play on Thursday, but I really don’t have a good feel for it right now,” coach Ben Howland said.
Mbah a Moute was injured in the first half of the Arizona State game on Thursday but still continued playing. He played 35 minutes in the game, scoring just two points but grabbing 14 rebounds.
“I knew right when it happened, but I didn’t think it was that big,” Mbah a Moute said. “It just started (hurting) after the game and the day after.”
Mbah a Moute, who has battled tendinitis in both of his knees over the past two years, says that he is doing better and that he isn’t feeling too much pain.
“I feel comfortable,” Mbah a Moute said. “I’m going to try to play; I want to play. It depends on the trainer and the doctor and what they say, but I feel pretty good right now.”
SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT: A big question mark going into the season was whether or not sophomore Darren Collison, with his funky form and inexperience, could be relied upon as a consistent outside shooter for the Bruins.
The answer so far has been a resounding yes.
Collison not only leads the Bruins with his 50.9 shooting percentage from 3-point range, he leads the entire Pac-10 conference. The point guard has knocked down 27 of his 53 3-point attempts this season and has made 14 of 24 shots (58.3%) from behind the arc in conference play.
Collison worked hard to perfect his shot in the offseason, but still admits that he didn’t envision himself leading the conference in 3-point percentage.
“I really wanted to improve on my jump shot. … That was probably the most important aspect (coming into the season),” Collison said. “I just wanted to make it shorter and make it a quicker jump shot so it would be harder to contest, and when guys close out I have a chance to give a shot fake and shoot the ball.”
ABOYA IMPRESSES: Coach Howland reiterated on Tuesday how impressed he was with sophomore forward Alfred Aboya’s play in Saturday’s game.
“He plays with passion,” Howland said. “If you ask his teammates, day in and day out, there’s nobody who plays harder than Alfred. He brings it every day.”
The matchup with Cal could play into Aboya’s hands. Like Arizona and Oregon, Cal has many players who can score both outside and inside. Aboya’s quickness on defense and aggressiveness on the boards has paid off in those types of matchups so far this year.
“We’re ready for anything that teams throw at us,” Aboya said. “If it’s skilled bigs that can shoot the ball, we’ve seen that before. We’ll be ready.”