This Test Is Fill In the Blanks for Bruins

It’s finals week for UCLA students.

In Westwood. And here in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Bruin basketball players Jordan Farmar, Ryan Wright, Josh Shipp and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute spent three hours Friday evening in a room at their hotel taking a final exam under the supervision of a proctor.

And today, just 18 hours later, they will rejoin their teammates for a test of a very different kind. The 14th-ranked Bruins, off to a 7-1 start, will face Michigan here at Crisler Arena.

Unranked among the top 25 teams in the Associated Press poll, the Wolverines are highly underrated, according to UCLA Coach Ben Howland.

“Michigan is the team that is probably the most under the radar of any team in the country,” Howland said. “They are a top-25 team, an NCAA tournament team without question. Period. Done deal.”

There’s certainly no question the team is off to a hot start. The Wolverines are 7-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

Michigan is led by 6-foot-11 center Courtney Sims, who is averaging 16.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks a game, and guard Daniel Horton, who is averaging 15.1 points, 5.1 assists and shooting 42% from three-point range. The Wolverines are also strong at forward with 6-9, 255-pound Graham Brown, who is averaging 8.7 rebounds, and 6-6 Lester Abram, who is averaging 12.9 points.

Last week, UCLA’s injury-depleted frontcourt faced a similarly strong challenge from Nevada. The Bruins were able to overcome that hurdle, thanks to impressive performances by Farmar and fellow guards Arron Afflalo and Darren Collison.

Today’s task, against an even better team, could prove tougher for the Bruins, even though it appears they will be better fortified up front. Lorenzo Mata is expected to play after recovering from a concussion he suffered two weeks ago. Fellow center Michael Fey (ankle sprain), who was not expected to play, is now available, according to Howland, based on his performance in Friday’s practice. Power forward Alfred Aboya remains hobbled by swelling in his right knee but is expected to play. Shipp, a projected starter this season, is still weeks away from his first game.

There will be other factors. This is the Bruins’ first true road game. Their earlier away games were on neutral sites -- two at New York’s Madison Square Garden in the NIT Season Tip-Off, and one at last week’s Wooden Classic at Arrowhead Pond.

Add to that, today’s tipoff is noon -- 9 a.m., Pacific time.

It’s an early wake-up call for a Bruin team less than two weeks away from conference play. And a tough test to finish finals week.

*

TODAY

vs. Michigan, 9 a.m. PST, ESPN

Site -- Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Radio -- 570.

Records -- UCLA 7-1, Michigan 7-0.

Update -- Although UCLA has beaten Michigan in eight of 11 meetings, the two teams have played only once in Ann Arbor. Michigan won that game, 70-66, two years ago. Their biggest meeting came in the 1965 NCAA championship game. UCLA won, 91-80, in Portland, Ore., behind Gale Goodrich’s 42 points, then a championship-game record, to give John Wooden the second of the 10 championships he would win as Bruin coach.