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Oh, by the way, Brian Morrison suffered a deep thigh bruise last week and hasn’t worked out since Saturday.

Maybe this is UCLA’s way of keeping the pressure off as the 11th-seeded Bruins (18-10) prepare for their NCAA tournament first-round game Thursday night against sixth-seeded Texas Tech (20-10) in Tucson. Just make injuries an “Oh, by the way,” item.

About 10 minutes into his media briefing, Coach Ben Howland was asked about Morrison’s defense.

“Morrison got hurt in practice Thursday and did not practice the last two days,” Howland said. “We’re hoping he can do some shooting by tomorrow.”

Morrison took a knee from forward Matt McKinney into his right thigh and by Saturday night, Morrison said, the thigh was swollen.

“I’ll think I’ll be OK to play on Thursday,” Morrison said. “I’ll sit out of practice so I don’t get kneed again in the thigh because I think they’d rather have me in the game than have me for practice.”

The injury is similar to one suffered by forward Josh Shipp, who didn’t sit out a game. “There was a lot of swelling,” Morrison said. “It was similar to what Josh had, but it ended up being a little bit worse.”

Senior Dijon Thompson and Morrison are the only Bruins with significant minutes who have played in NCAA tournament games. Morrison, a 6-foot-2 guard who transferred from North Carolina three years ago, was part of the Tar Heel team that was upset by Penn State in the second round in New Orleans in 2002.

“I’ve been hoping for a better experience this time,” said Morrison, who averages 22 minutes and 7.5 points.

Thompson, who was a freshman when UCLA beat Mississippi and upset Cincinnati to reach the Sweet 16 in 2002, was not in a talkative mood Tuesday. Asked if he had any thoughts on Texas Tech and playing against Coach Bob Knight, Thompson said, “I have no thoughts at all.”

The team’s leading scorer and rebounder did have some thoughts on how UCLA’s three freshman starters might react to the attention when they arrive in Tucson.

“I think it’s easy to be overwhelmed when you haven’t been there before,” Thompson said.

Freshman guard Jordan Farmar said he felt lucky more than overwhelmed.

“It couldn’t have happened any better for us, being close to home in Tucson,” he said. “I’m excited and looking forward to the opportunity. I’m not just feeling like we’re lucky to be here. I mean, we are lucky to be here but we’re not satisfied with that. We’re trying to do much more and make a lot of noise. So I’m ready to look at this opportunity and go ahead and take advantage of it.”