He Gives Inspiration, Then Adds Perspiration : UCLA: No longer happy with just being able to play, Ed O’Bannon takes on an increasingly important role.

Ed O’Bannon was so delighted to be back on the court last month that it didn’t occur to him for several weeks that more than his mere presence would be required to help the UCLA basketball team.

After spending 15 months on the sidelines following reconstructive surgery on his left knee, O’Bannon had to be reminded by Coach Jim Harrick that concentration and intensity would be needed, too.

O’Bannon’s peace of mind was important to the Bruins, but so were the skills that had made him, at least in the opinion of one publication, the national high school player of the year two years ago.

“I think I was doing a couple of things well, but, overall, I was just out there,” said O’Bannon, echoing his coach’s words. “I wasn’t rebounding. And the little things to help the team, I wasn’t doing them. And so, he pulled me out. That’s when I started to (think), ‘Hey, I’d better buckle down and start working a little harder.’ ”

In the past week, the 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman from Lakewood Artesia High has displayed the explosiveness and productivity that was expected of him before he was injured during a pick-up game on Oct. 8, 1990.

In an 82-76 victory over California on Tuesday night, he made all five of his shots, scored 11 points and took six rebounds in 17 minutes. In Thursday night’s 96-70 rout of Stanford, he scored six points and took 11 rebounds in 21 minutes, his longest stint of the season. He also provided a memorable moment, a soaring dunk that was waved off when he was called for charging.

Considering his limited minutes, he has developed into UCLA’s most consistent rebounder, averaging a rebound every three minutes.

“The first couple of games, he really didn’t do too much, but now he’s really asserting himself, taking the shots when he has them and rebounding the heck out of the ball,” teammate Gerald Madkins said. “That’s exactly what we need out of Ed--a lot of rebounds.”

O’Bannon still gets winded faster than most of his teammates, but his left knee feels strong and stable, he said. “If I do favor it, it’s out of force of habit,” he said. “It’s not tender or weak.”

Against Stanford, he was the first player off the bench.

“At the beginning, it was more of an inspirational thing--to influence the team to keep playing hard,” O’Bannon said of his impact in the first few games after his Jan. 16 debut in a 99-71 rout of Oregon. “But now my role is changing. It has become more of a regular thing, where I’ve got to get out there and produce and, if I don’t, I’m going to be on the bench.

“At the beginning, I was just trying to get back, trying to enjoy myself. But now I have a big role on the squad. I see that they need me.”