Mbah a Moute learns as he goes

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is relentlessly positive.

He missed a late free throw Sunday in UCLA’s 63-61 loss to Texas, then an open three-point shot that would have won the game at the buzzer. That would have made him a two-time hero this season; Mbah a Moute had made a long shot to give UCLA a 68-63 win over Michigan State.

“I will take that shot again,” Mbah a Moute said this week. “And I will make it.”

Mbah a Moute, UCLA’s 6-foot-8, 232-pound junior forward from Cameroon, is still a work in progress. He feels more comfortable at power forward, where he uses his quickness and strength to be a more active rebounder and opportunistic scorer by picking up loose balls or offensive rebounds. But he is determined to learn to be a small forward, which requires the ability to shoot jump shots, make passes and guard smaller men.

Because of injuries to swingman Michael Roll and forward James Keefe, Mbah a Moute says he has spent more time in practice playing power forward but more time in games playing small forward.

“It’s hard to go back and forth,” he said. “Once we get everybody back then we get a couple of practices where I work at the same position all the time, that’s always good. My guess is I’ll play more four [power forward]. I rebound better from the four because I’m always around the basket, guarding people around the basket. At the same time, I’ve got to go out and get the ball more often.”

Mbah a Moute, despite his game-winning three-pointer against the Spartans, is only four for 14 from that range (28.6%) and he has made only half of 12 free throws this season. After averaging 8.2 rebounds as a freshman and 7.4 as a sophomore, he is averaging only 4.3 this year.

However, it was Mbah a Moute who aggressively attacked the Texas zone in the second half after UCLA had trailed by as many as 16 points in the first.

He had 10 of his 14 points in the second half and five of his seven rebounds after becoming purposely active.

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It is a discussion that has occurred every year Ben Howland has been coaching UCLA. Why do the Bruins seem to struggle against teams that play zone defense?

Junior Josh Shipp has a theory. Howland’s Bruins play only man-to-man defense.

“We spend so much time on our man-to-man defense and we don’t practice zone,” Shipp said.

“So we don’t play [zone offense] with the same intensity level in practice. It’s going to be a point of emphasis now because teams are going to continue zoning us.

“We have to get the ball inside to the high post and not rely too much on our perimeter game.”

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Though it’s not a competition according to the creators involved, after the first 11 games of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, the Pac-10 leads six games to five. Stanford plays Texas Tech in Dallas on Dec. 22.

The Pac-10 winners: Oregon 80, Kansas State 77; USC 66, Oklahoma 55; Washington State 67, Baylor 64; California 86, Missouri 72; Stanford 67, California 43; and Arizona 78, Texas A&M; 67.

The Big 12 winners: Kansas 76, Arizona 72 (OT); Iowa State 71, Oregon State 64; Oklahoma State 86, Washington 71; Nebraska 62, Arizona State 47; and Texas 63, UCLA 61.

Because the Big 12 has two extra teams, Arizona and Stanford will have played twice.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com