Howland proceeds cautiously

UCLA Coach Ben Howland never met a team he didn’t fear.

At least that’s what he tells his players.

A master motivator, Howland calls every game, “the biggest game of the year,” and builds every opponent up into a Final Four contender.

That’s why Howland could be the key figure when the Bruins face Oregon State this afternoon at Pauley Pavilion.

On paper, it looks like a mismatch. The Bruins lead the Pacific 10 Conference with an 8-2 record, are 19-2 overall, are ranked No. 5 in the nation, and are coming off an impressive victory Thursday night over Oregon, which had been tied with them for the conference lead.

Ahead for UCLA next week are games against USC, whose rising program has reinvigorated their cross-town rivalry, and West Virginia, a team that beat the Bruins a year ago at Pauley.

Oh yeah, and then there’s the Beavers, losers of five straight games, owners of a 1-9 conference mark and a 9-14 overall record, a team that is 1-4 on the road and has lost four straight to UCLA.

“I’m concerned,” Howland said.

He said it as a compliment to the Beavers, but the remark can also be taken as a warning to his players.

UCLA guard Arron Afflalo said he saw a look in teammate Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s eyes during the pregame warmup Thursday that told Afflalo that Mbah a Moute was going to have a big game, which he did. Howland said he saw that look in the eyes of a lot of his players, a look generated not only by the importance of Thursday night’s game, but by the regret over the previous game when the Bruins blew a 17-point lead in losing to Stanford.

How can Howland keep that look flashing in his players’ eyes?

“I tell them that a mature team has got to show up with that same intensity every time they step on the floor,” he said. “That’s when you become a consistent team.”

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Oregon State junior forward Marcel Jones leads his team in scoring (15.9 points), rebounding (5.9) and steals (1.5).

The 6-foot-8, 220-pounder, who attended Santa Ana Mater Dei High, has shown dramatic improvement in his offensive production since arriving in Corvallis. He averaged 3.9 points as a freshman, and bumped that up to 9.2 as a sophomore before another big leap this season.

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With his 17 points Thursday night, Afflalo has scored in double figures in 20 straight games, the longest such streak in the conference.

TODAY

2:30 p.m., FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- Pauley Pavilion.

Radio -- 1150.

Records -- UCLA 19-2, 8-2 in Pacific 10, Oregon State 9-14, 1-9.

Update -- In facing the fifth-ranked Bruins, the Beavers will be trying for the seventh time this season to beat a ranked team. The previous six games all ended in defeat for Oregon State.

steve.springer@latimes.com