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Bruins can show heart in Texas

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Wharton is a Times staff writer.

Final exams begin at UCLA next week, but the basketball players face their first big test tonight.

A top-10 opponent. An arena where the crowd figures to be hostile.

If nothing else, eighth-ranked Texas will provide a measuring stick for the 12th-ranked Bruins, still trying to gauge their place in the national pecking order after an upset loss to Michigan two weeks ago.

“The Michigan game, we said it was too early,” guard Darren Collison said. “Well, there’s no excuse now.”

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Texas lost D.J. Augustin to the NBA last spring but still has Damion James, a major player in the Longhorns’ victory at Pauley Pavilion last season. The 6-foot-7 swingman had 19 points and 10 rebounds, scoring the winning basket on a follow dunk with 8.3 seconds remaining.

Coach Ben Howland said this season’s Longhorns look deeper and more athletic, eschewing the zone defense for an aggressive man-to-man that pressures the ball. Their revamped style makes them “a much more difficult team,” Howland said.

Still, UCLA might prefer the man-to-man after struggling with Michigan’s zone.

“If we don’t shoot the ball [well], we have a very hard time getting into a flow,” forward James Keefe said. “It’s kind of like hit or miss when we play against the zone.”

The Bruins have been practicing the motion offense over the last few weeks, hoping to augment their standard set plays. On defense, they’ve been working on trademark Howland double-teams, hoping to hold opponents’ shooting closer to the 40% mark.

But tonight’s game will involve more than Xs and O’s.

For freshmen such as Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee, this will be the first real taste of college basketball on the road. Though Texas fans are still focused on football, Frank Erwin Center should be loud.

“These young guys are going to learn what it’s like to play in a hostile situation,” junior swingman Michael Roll said. “And we’re obviously going to have that during the Pac-10 season.”

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The upperclassmen have been slipping hints to the newcomers: Ignore the taunts. Listen harder to calls from teammates.

Collison has also talked about what’s at stake. He has a sneaking suspicion that this particular test might weigh heavily on the Bruins’ final grade when the NCAA convenes months from now to decide tournament seedings.

“They’re going to look at this game,” he said, “because Texas is definitely going to be one of the top teams.”

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david.wharton@latimes.com

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