UCLA walk-on’s role has expanded

Darren Collison says Mustafa Abdul-Hamid doesn’t play basketball like a walk-on player at UCLA.

“Mustafa plays with swagger,” says the injured Collison, who is out at least until Nov. 28 against George Washington because of a sprained left knee.

As the Bruins (3-0) get ready to play tonight in the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City against Maryland, this will be their first big national test without Collison.

With Collison missing the last three games, Abdul-Hamid has played 24 minutes, more than the eight he played all last season.

Abdul-Hamid turned down the opportunity to play basketball at Harvard, and he almost got a scholarship to Davidson until, at the last minute, Bob McKillop offered the scholarship to point guard Stephen Curry, who has blossomed into a star.

“That worked out for everybody,” said Abdul-Hamid, who does not have an athletic scholarship at UCLA.

Coach Ben Howland is now mentioning the guard more often. “We’ll need Mustafa in Kansas City,” Howland said last week after announcing Collison needed prolonged rest.

And last Thursday, when UCLA had its weekly news conference, Abdul-Hamid was there with Josh Shipp, Collison, Kevin Love, Alfred Aboya, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Russell Westbrook.

Abdul-Hamid, who is 6 feet 2 and 196 pounds, spoke as if he were a leader, discussing how during his time on the court his only goals will be to get his teammates the ball and play defense.

“I don’t need to be more complicated,” he said. “I don’t need to be fancy.”

As he stood off in a corner, ceding the middle spots in the room to those more accustomed to attention, Abdul-Hamid grew excited in talking about why he came to UCLA with no financial aid or any promise other than if he attended Howland’s practices and paid attention, he would become a better basketball player.

“My philosophy, when it comes to life is to assess the situation and take a calculated risk,” Abdul-Hamid said. “Once you take the risk, don’t look back. I knew of the risk coming here and that I wouldn’t play as much initially as I would at other places, but without risk there’s no reward.”

Abdul-Hamid came to UCLA from St. Louis, where he played at St. Louis Country Day. His father, Stephen, and mother, Marva Williams, raised him both separately and together. The pair split when Abdul-Hamid was young but, Abdul-Hamid said, “They both put me first and they are good friends. I had a great support system.”

The basketball blood comes from his father, who played at New Mexico State and Wichita State as Stephen Henderson and was roommates with future ABA star John Williamson at New Mexico State.

Stephen still lives in St. Louis and works as a social worker. He also is a spiritual man who spent several days coming up with the perfect name for his first son. Abdul-Hamid’s full name is Sean Mustafa Abdul-Hamid.

After Henderson left Wichita State, he researched the origins of his family name. While he was happy to know that his mother chose Stephen for the saint who was “the first martyr in Christianity,” he said, his last name was less glorious. “My last name came because my family were slaves in Henderson, Ky.,” he said. “Many slaves took the name Henderson. I decided to change my last name. Abdul means ‘servant of’ and Hamid means ‘one worthy of all praise,’ so Abdul-Hamid means ‘servant of one who is praiseworthy.’

“I wanted Mustafa’s name to have all kinds of significant meaning. Sean, from my research, in Irish means ‘gift from God.’ Mustafa is a chosen and beloved prophet of God so if you put it together it means ‘gift of God, chosen and beloved, servant of one worthy of all praise.’ ”

Stephen took great inspiration from his own high school coach, Jodie Bailey, who coached 834 wins in his career at Vashon High, O’Fallon and Northwest High and who was, Stephen said, the first African American high school coach in Missouri.

“He taught us basketball and dignity,” said Stephen, who tries to visit his old coach in a senior citizens home every week.

While he played for Bailey at Northwest, Stephen said Bailey had a signature play. “We called it UCLAN,” Stephen said, “because it was a coach Wooden play, a high-post screen.”

When Abdul-Hamid became determined to play at a major basketball school, with or without a scholarship, he met with Wooden, according to his father. “I never told Coach about the play,” Stephen said, “because Mustafa and Coach were too busy talking writing and poetry.”

In high school, Abdul-Hamid had covered his notebooks in a quote he had taken from Wooden. “Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out.”

When Abdul-Hamid thanked Wooden for the quote, Stephen said, “Coach told him it wasn’t his own quote. Coach Wooden had taken that quote from Abraham Lincoln.”

Abdul-Hamid is majoring in global studies and did an internship last summer in the Los Angeles mayor’s office.

He is living in an apartment nicknamed “the bachelor pad,” with teammates James Keefe, Michael Roll and Nikola Dragovic. Stephen came to Los Angeles for the season opener against Portland State 10 days ago and stayed in the bachelor pad. “Good kids,” he said. “They need to take the garbage out, though.”

St. Louis is about four hours from Kansas City, so Abdul-Hamid will have a big family turnout to see him play against Maryland.

That the Bruins are coming so close to Abdul-Hamid’s home at the time when Abdul-Hamid may get more playing time than usual only proves one thing, Stephen said.

“Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out,” he said. “Thank you, Abe Lincoln and John Wooden.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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TONIGHT’S GAME

UCLA vs. Maryland

Semifinals of CBE Classic

at Kansas City, 4 p.m., ESPN2