Some Players Are Trying to Get Right to the Point

The UCLA basketball team needs a point guard and Wednesday it seemed as if everybody was volunteering.

Jordan Farmar, who would have been the starter, instead is fighting for a roster spot with the Lakers. Sophomore Darren Collison, Farmar’s backup last season as the Bruins made an unexpected run to the national championship game, probably will be the new starter.

Junior Arron Afflalo, the Bruins’ leading returning scorer, will be the shooting guard. Unless he’s spelling Collison at point guard.

“I hope to,” Afflalo said at the team’s media day. “I’ve done it before. I can get as much joy from making that perfect point guard pass as I do making a shot.”

In another corner, Josh Shipp, the junior who sat out all but four games last season after undergoing surgery on his right hip last September, suggested he also would be happy to step away from playing forward to spell Collison at the point.

“I did it in high school,” Shipp said. “I’d get the rebound and bring the ball up.”

The Bruins have seven of their top 10 scorers and rebounders back from last season’s 32-7 team that lost to Florida in the national title game. But they did lose three starters -- Farmar and seniors Cedric Bozeman and Ryan Hollins.

“Honestly,” Shipp said, “I think we’ll have a better team when it’s over.”

Collison, a 6-foot, 160-pound sophomore from Rancho Cucamonga, is eager to put his stamp -- speed -- on the team.

“I think we’re going to try and push the ball more,” he said. “I’d like to push the ball. Running is fun.”

So is being the UCLA point guard. Said Collison: “It’s an honor and I’ve learned some things from Jordan. I need to be a lot more vocal. I’ve got to take charge.”

Coach Ben Howland said Collison is ready. But Howland isn’t sure who will be the backup.

“Arron’s a possibility,” Howland said. “He did it two years ago.”

Howland also said freshmen Mustafa Abdul-Hamid and Russell Westbrook would get looks.

“Mustafa will get a lot of practice,” Howland said. “Russell, I’m not sure about the defensive end yet or his ball-handling. We cannot handle a lot of turnovers.”

Howland is also hoping he doesn’t have to handle a lot of injuries. Last season, Afflalo, Farmar, Shipp, Alfred Aboya and Bozeman sat out parts of the season -- and already the Bruins have an injury to announce.

Junior center Lorenzo Mata will have arthroscopic surgery on his right knee today. That’s the same knee that was operated on in June.

Howland said Mata has been having pain and swelling in the knee for the last week as the Bruins have started more intense training sessions.

Mata sat out 16 games last season -- first with a concussion and then with a broken leg -- but was a key part of the UCLA’s Final Four run.

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Tickets go on sale Saturday for the Dec. 9 John R. Wooden Classic at the Honda Center in Anaheim. UCLA will play Texas A&M; at 11:30 a.m. followed by USC against George Washington. Tickets range in price from $153 to $11.50.

diane.pucin@latimes.com