CULVER CITY “”mdash; Lorenzo Mata threw down a big slam dunk that
got an equally big reaction from the stands at the SayNo/ProCity
Summer League semifinals on Saturday. The dunk said one thing: Mata
is back. The junior center appears to be fully recovered from last
season’s leg injury, and is expected by many to be in the
starting five when the Bruins tip off in November.
When asked if he had already earned the starting center role for
UCLA, Mata remained humble. “I don’t know,” he
said. “I mean, it all comes down to practice.”
Teammate and fellow junior Arron Afflalo was less humble on his
behalf.
“He’s the junior, he should be (the starter),”
Afflalo said. “But he’s gonna have to beat out Alfred
(Aboya) and Ryan (Wright), and whoever else wants that
spot.”
Mata was playing his strongest basketball last season when he
went down with a fractured right tibia against Washington State,
after crashing into point guard Jordan Farmar. The junior center
had started the first five Pac-10 games for the Bruins, averaging
6.5 points and 5.8 rebounds, before having to relocate to the
bench.
“I just had to deal with it,” Mata said. “I
got hurt in the middle of the season. I worked hard to come back,
and I did in the (Pac-10) tournament.”
Mata played in the Bruins’ final nine contests, after
being forced to sit out for 14 games. He started eight of the 21
games in which he appeared last season, averaged 14.0 minutes per
game, and shot .500 from the field.
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After the season, on June 16, the Huntington Park native had a
45-minute arthroscopic procedure performed on his right knee. The
procedure removed a small tear of Mata’s medial meniscus,
according to UCLA team physician Gerald Finerman.
After rehabbing, Mata has been putting in work to gear up for
his junior year, playing in the SayNo/ProCity league.
“Right now it’s my conditioning,” Mata said.
“Getting up and down. Trying to take shots, develop my game
better. Working on my offensive game and my rebounding.”
Mata joined teammate Michael Roll and Trojans Gabe Pruitt and
Nick Young to play for Hank’s Franchise Boys. He mixed things
up in Saturday’s game against the Warriors, combining strong
moves to the hoop and more mid-range shots to put points on the
board. When asked how it felt to throw passes to Trojans, Mata said
it didn’t faze him.
“I’ve known (Pruitt and Young) for a long time. Nick
played on an AAU team with me, so I’ve known him for a while.
They’re great friends, they just went to a rival
school.”
With or without Trojans, Mata is back on the court, sporting a
healthy right leg with some new ink.
“(The tattoo is) like three months old,” Mata said.
“It’s something I got for my mom and for God, letting
me play through all the injuries and getting healthy again. I got
my mom’s name in the middle of it with praying
hands.”