Farmar diagnosis exhausting

Upon arriving at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday, UCLA shifted its
focus from the Great Danes of Albany to the great mystery
surrounding Jordan Farmar.

The Bruins’ sophomore point guard was not in uniform for
UCLA’s 73-65 victory over Albany on Tuesday night after he
received conflicting results about the severity of an injury to his
right foot.

After the game, UCLA coach Ben Howland relayed to reporters the
best news he’d heard all day ““ his point guard will
likely miss a few games with a sprained ankle.

That was a much better prognosis than what Howland was told in
his office earlier Tuesday morning, that Farmar had suffered a
stress fracture in his foot and would be out at least four to six
weeks.

“Believe me, I was excited, happy, elated,” Howland
said. “It was obviously on my mind for most of the day
because when I got here this morning there was confusion about it.
Now we can finally put it to rest.”

Farmar, who originally injured his foot against Temple on Nov.
17, had an MRI on Monday night that was inconclusive, but it was
feared he had suffered stress fractures in two metatarsals.

The sophomore then had a second MRI on Tuesday afternoon, which
showed exactly what he and his coach wanted to see ““
nothing.

By the time Farmar limped off the court, it was clear that the
most tired Bruin on Tuesday was the one wearing jeans and a
collared shirt, sitting at the end of the bench.

“Man, it’s been a long day,” Farmar said.
“It’s been really tiring. I prepared myself mentally to
deal with the next couple of weeks. I’ve been in this boot
all day and was ready to wear it for four to six weeks.”

Due to the conflicting diagnoses, however, Farmar said he would
seek an outside opinion sometime today, and he plans to sit out
UCLA’s next few practices and the game against Coppin State
this Sunday.

He is prepared not to rush back to the court too soon, saying he
will not return until he is close to 100 percent.

“I don’t want to come back too early and have it be
something that lasts all year long,” said Farmar, who
complained of pain in his ankle after each of UCLA’s two
games in New York last week.

“If I can knock it out early and let it heal, I can miss
only a couple of games. If I let it persist for a long time, it can
end up bothering me for the rest of the time I play
basketball.”

Without Farmar, the Bruins reacted to Albany as though to an
illness. It took a while for UCLA to shake the Great Danes ““
a long while.

The Bruins let a 19-point first-half lead evaporate during a
17-0 Albany run that stretched from the end of the first half to
the beginning of the second, and the Great Danes held the lead with
nearly 13 minutes remaining in the game.

UCLA only cemented the victory in the final minute when freshman
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute rebounded a Darren Collison miss to give
the Bruins a 7-point lead. Mbah a Moute finished with a
double-double, with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

“What you saw today when (Albany) came back was immaturity
on the part of this team,” said sophomore Arron Afflalo, who
led UCLA with 22 points.

“We can’t have any lapses if we want to beat teams.
We have a lot of things to work on.”

But before they do, the Bruins would like to get everyone
healthy and back on the court.

And while the extent of Farmar’s injury was received with
welcoming arms, it still adds to a laundry list of injured Bruins
that seems to have a new addition each week.

“You want to compete at a certain level, but it’s
tough when everyone’s going in and out,” Afflalo
said.

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