UCLA to break in temporary basketball home

A checklist for UCLA’s first basketball scrimmage could go something like this:

See where sophomore center Josh Smith is in his conditioning.

Evaluate the battles for the starting spots at shooting guard and small forward.

Make sure the Bruins’ 11 NCAA championship banners are hung straight inside the Sports Arena.

UCLA gets the first taste of its new “home” at 4 p.m. Thursday when it plays host to Cal State Fullerton in a closed scrimmage. The Bruins will play 14 of their 18 home games this season at the Sports Arena while Pauley Pavilion undergoes renovations; their other home games will be played at Honda Center.

The 52-year-old Sports Arena will have a hodgepodge feel to it. The floor will be the one used by the Sparks, with a UCLA center court decal. A scoreboard and two video boards are being installed, and the interior bowl and lobby are getting a coat of paint.

“There’s still a lot of stuff to be done,” said Coach Ben Howland, whose team opens its season Nov. 11 against Loyola Marymount at the Sports Arena.

At least UCLA’s title banners are already in place.

The Bruins have a 27-game winning streak as the home team at the venue dating to 1965, their final season there before moving into Pauley Pavilion. But the last time Howland coached inside the Sports Arena, a Michael Roll pass skipped out of bounds in the final seconds and USC hung on for a 71-68 victory in the crosstown rivalry. The date was Feb. 19, 2006.

Facing Cal State Fullerton instead of a Division II team could give UCLA a better idea of where it stands roughly two weeks before its opener.

“Playing against a Division I team with Division I athletes is a good thing,” Howland said. “You can work on situations, [Titans Coach Bob Burton] can ask us to play zone, we can ask him to play zone, things you don’t normally do in a game.”

Injury report

The Bruins will play the scrimmage — and possibly their opener — without Anthony Stover after the reserve sophomore center injured his left shoulder Wednesday, his first day back at practice after being sidelined more than a week because of a concussion.

Stover is scheduled to undergo tests Thursday to gauge the extent of the injury.

“He’s going to be out for some time here, a couple of weeks maybe,” Howland said. “It’s lousy luck for him to just be coming back and, boom, get hurt again.”

UCLA will also take on the Titans without junior forward De’End Parker, who is recovering from a concussion suffered last week. The Bruins have had three players suffer concussions in the last month.

Junior forward Brendan Lane is expected to play in the scrimmage after tests on his bothersome stomach came back normal, Howland said.

ben.bolch@latimes.com