Shipp is better than nothing

UCLA center Kevin Love had Easter dinner with teammate Josh Shipp, who is struggling to regain his shooting touch while recovering from strep throat.

“Josh was all smiles, laughing, having a good time,” Love said. “Josh knows what he needs to do, no extra pressure. He’s been here before. He knows what he’s doing.”

Shipp on Tuesday answered questions without saying a lot. He is fully aware that going scoreless, as he did in last Saturday’s 51-49 win over Texas A&M;, is why his face was full of flashing cameras and waving tape recorders.

As top-seeded UCLA (33-3) prepares to face 12th-seeded Western Kentucky (29-6) in an NCAA West Regional semifinal Thursday at U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix at 6:40 p.m., Shipp’s offensive struggles have been noticed. Since scoring 18 points against California in the first game of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, he hasn’t scored more than seven points in a game.

Shipp sees the same statistics everyone else does: His scoring average has dropped from a season-high of 15.0 in late December to 12.4. He has missed his last 10 three-point shots. He is seven for 27 from the field since that Cal game.

Shipp admitted after the Texas A&M; game that he passed up open shots that were designed for him out of the offense.

What Shipp won’t say is that he has lost confidence. And his teammates insist he will soon have a breakout game.

After taking 350 shots Monday with Coach Ben Howland at his side, Shipp said he found no flaw in his stroke. He says his body feels healthy, strep throat aside. His surgically repaired hips aren’t a problem.

“My form’s there, my shot feels good,” he said. “In the gym I’ve got to shoot the ball the way I know how. I know I’ve got to knock down shots. Every time I shoot it feels like it’s going in. So I’ve got to keep shooting.”

Shipp said he began feeling ill about three days before the Texas A&M; game but didn’t want to go to the doctor. “I didn’t want to know,” he said.

But his shooting slump hasn’t been a one-game affair. He went through a six-game stretch starting Feb. 2 in which he was 0-for-20 from three-point range.

Love and point guard Darren Collison scored 40 of UCLA’s 51 points against the Aggies and Shipp said that wasn’t good.

“You’re making the game a lot harder when you’re just having two scorers,” Shipp said. “Definitely somebody needs to step up.”

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According to Howland, the MRI exam taken Monday on forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s sprained left ankle came back negative, and Mbah Moute participated in Tuesday’s practice will no ill effects. After missing two games, Mbah a Moute played Saturday but suffered significant swelling Sunday.

Howland said the swelling had eased and that he expected Mbah a Moute to be ready for Thursday’s game.

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While the Bruins wouldn’t say they were looking forward to playing against Western Kentucky’s fast-paced, full-court, ball-trapping pressure, they did note that high-speed basketball suits them.

“They trap, full-court press,” Love said. “That’s great. We’re very, very good in the open court. Hopefully that pays dividends for us. I hope I can throw my outlet pass a couple of times.”

Said forward James Keefe: “We’re at our best when our defense creates a lot of turnovers and we can get up-tempo. We have so many athletes on the floor -- Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison are so quick and physical -- and with Kevin throwing outlet passes? That could be great. It will be a different kind of game than last week’s, that’s for sure.”

And Shipp sees the upside to up-tempo as well. “It’s definitely tough for a team to trap us when we have two point guards on the court,” he said, referring to Westbrook and Collison. “We’ve got Kevin throwing the outlet. We’ve got two great finishers on the wing.”

Was he thinking that a fastbreak dunk might be a good slump buster?

“Maybe,” he said.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com