Collison says he wants to play

Darren Collison didn’t limp into a news conference at UCLA on Friday. His left ankle, sprained during a practice Thursday, didn’t appear swollen.

And when he spoke, the Bruins’ junior point guard sounded almost defiant when he said, “I want to play Saturday. I think most likely I will play Saturday.”

Fifth-ranked UCLA (11-1) plays its last nonconference game of the season today at Pauley Pavilion against UC Davis (5-6). If there has been a disappointment so far for a team that was ranked first or second in most polls before a last-second loss to Texas last month, it has been the constant stream of injuries and illnesses.

Even before practice began in October, senior center Lorenzo Mata-Real had a sprained ankle that slowed him for nearly a month.

Within a day of each other, Collison (sprained left knee) and Michael Roll (ruptured plantar fascia) were both knocked out of practice for a month and at least six games. Alfred Aboya sustained a fractured bone in his face. Kevin Love has limped through ankle, shin, thigh and foot bumps and bruises, and the freshman missed most of practice Wednesday with flu-like symptoms similar to those that plagued Roll and Mata-Real last week.

In Wednesday’s practice, the first after a three-day Christmas break, Mata-Real strained his groin during a drill. The senior felt a twinge but continued practicing. It wasn’t until he woke up Thursday and felt stiffness that Mata-Real realized he needed to be cautious. He said he remembered three years ago when center Michael Fey had a similar injury.

“It was pretty long term,” Mata-Real said. “I don’t want it to get like that and be long term.”

Coach Ben Howland said it was unlikely Mata-Real would play against UC Davis.

In practice Thursday, Collison was injured when he stepped on the foot of fellow guard Russell Westbrook. Collison characterized the injury as “a tweak” and said it was nothing more than an annoyance. He said that on the bright side, the discomfort he felt in his ankle took his mind off the bothersome knee brace he has worn for a month.

The sprained knee doesn’t hurt anymore, Collison said, but the brace is a hindrance.

“I’m starting to trust the knee a lot more,” he said. “I’m looking forward to taking the brace off before the first Pac-10 game. So [today] might be my last day with the brace on. That would make me extremely happy.”

Collison said the brace has affected his defense. “I’m not having the full extension the way I want,” he said. “I’m still a step slow. I can make it quick but not a step quicker than usual because the brace is heavy.”

The stream of injuries has made finding consistency a challenge, junior Josh Shipp said.

“I think our offense isn’t where our defense is right now,” Shipp said. “Our offense is a little stagnant with the motion. We tend to watch each other when we get the ball.”

Love, who is averaging team highs of 16.7 points and 10.3 rebounds, said it has been a herky-jerky learning process.

“It seems like every day we’re playing our hardest and someone gets banged up,” he said. “You like to get into a rhythm and when some guy misses a practice, it’s hard.”

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Howland said he was happy to see veteran coach Eddie Sutton take over at the University of San Francisco.

“I think Eddie is one of the finest coaches ever to coach,” Howland said. “ . . . It makes it harder on the rest of the guys in that league.”

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While the six-year home-and-home series with Michigan has ended, Howland said UCLA will be playing another Midwest team and suggested it was a team the Bruins used to play.

When the UCLA-Notre Dame series ended three years ago, Howland said he was disappointed the Fighting Irish were off the schedule.

TODAY

vs. UC Davis, 4:30, FSN Prime

Radio -- 570.

Site -- Pauley Pavilion.

Records -- UCLA 11-1, UC Davis 5-6.

Update -- The Aggies are in their first official season as an NCAA Division I team and as a full-fledged member of the Big West Conference, eligible for the NCAA tournament. Leading scorer Vince Oliver, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Inglewood, used to carpool to games with UCLA guard Josh Shipp. Oliver, who went to Los Angeles Loyola High, leads UC Davis in scoring (13.1). Aggies point guard David Carter, a 6-1 junior, was a teammate of Bruins point guard Darren Collison at Etiwanda High. Collison said Carter is his best friend. Oliver said he and Shipp won a 10-and-under national championship together and said he told his teammates the best way to guard Shipp, who averages 14.8 points a game, is to “aggravate him. Stay by his side and don’t let him get dunks.” Two years ago while still in transition to Division I, UC Davis upset Stanford, 64-58.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com