UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute didn't move from the end of the bench Thursday night as the Bruins smashed Mississippi Valley State, 70-29. He was happy to rest his sprained left ankle, confident that his teammates would win without him.

On Wednesday, Bruins Coach Ben Howland said Mbah a Moute, who had hurt the ankle in last Friday's Pacific 10 Conference tournament win over USC, would not only play but start Thursday's first-round NCAA tournament game.

But earlier Wednesday, during UCLA's practice at Pauley Pavilion before the team bussed to Anaheim, sophomore forward James Keefe received a different message.

"When we were going through the walk-through and shoot-around, Coach Howland switched my shirt and put me in the rotation then he came up to me and said I was starting. Then he made an announcement to the team that he wanted to keep Luc rested."

Keefe got the first start of his UCLA career and scored four points and had seven rebounds.

Mbah a Moute said the final decision not to start was made for him Thursday morning.

"This morning we decided I'd dress but not play," Mbah a Moute said. "If the game started getting close somehow, he was going to throw me in there. Because we won and we won by a lot I didn't have to play."

As for Saturday's game against Texas A&M, Mbah a Moute said, "I'm definitely playing," and Howland said, "I think Luc will start on Saturday. I had initially planned on doing that. And then, as I thought about it, I felt comfortable that we would be able to probably get this one without him. I honestly planned to start him today until late last night when I had given it a lot of thought."

diane.pucin@latimes.com