Every dance has first step

Kevin Love wowed the 200 or so fans that came to the Honda Center on Wednesday by scoring a basket with a two-handed chest pass from the opposite end of the court. Love then did a four-corner bow, the consummate showman appreciating his fans.

He is also a freshman, unburdened by UCLA’s NCAA journeys of the last two years when the Bruins advanced through the tournament into the Final Four but didn’t return home with a 12th national championship banner.

The Bruins (31-3), seeded No. 1 in the NCAA West Regional, begin the win-or-go-home portion of the season tonight with a game against 16th-seeded Mississippi Valley State (17-15) in the last of four games at Anaheim’s Honda Center. In the history of the tournament No. 16-seeded teams are 0-92.

On Wednesday UCLA players were involved in speaking about what will make the next three weeks successful. “Getting to the Final Four is definitely a good accomplishment,” Shipp said, “but we won’t be happy with that. For us to be happy with this season, a championship is what we want.”

It was Love’s play at practice, including his 25 or 30 attempts to make that full-court chest-pass shot, that may have provided the most compelling evidence the rest of the Bruins won’t be disappointed.

Love had pulled a muscle in his back last Saturday during UCLA’s 67-64 win over Stanford in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament championship game. Combined with the sprained ankle starting forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute suffered against USC last Friday, there has been concern about whether the Bruins could physically handle the grind of playing over three weekends.

“My back is fine,” Love said. “I’m out there dunking with two hands, pulling my right arm back, my back’s not tugging. I jumped way higher than a credit card.” After the Stanford game Love had said he couldn’t elevate as high as a credit card.

Mbah a Moute said he was “still questionable” for today’s game, pointing to the swollen lump on his left ankle and calling himself 75%. Howland, though, said the junior forward, who is UCLA’s second-leading rebounder, would start. “He’s not completely 100% but he’s close,” Howland said. “He’s going to play tomorrow. Yes, he’ll start.”

The Delta Devils, from Itta Bena, Miss., won the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament and nine straight games but not a single NCAA tournament game (UCLA has won 94). They spoke optimistically of not making this trip only for an opportunity to go to Disneyland. The Bruins were asked about whether a third straight season of 30-plus wins, of being nationally ranked in the top five all year, of winning both the Pac-10 regular season title and league tournament, could be considered successful without the national title.

Lorenzo Mata-Real, UCLA’s only scholarship senior, spoke wistfully of how the Bruins’ unexpected run to the Final Four two years ago was pure fun. “We just went out every game proving people wrong,” he said. “It felt like we proved something when we made it to the Final Four. But now, this season, we’ve accomplished a lot of good things so far, but my goal is to win the whole thing, so, to me it would be a failure if we don’t do that.”

Love was the one player who wouldn’t say his first, and probably only, college season would be a failure if it doesn’t end with an NCAA title.

“A lot of people are saying if we don’t go back to the Final Four and if we make it and don’t win it all the whole season is not successful. I don’t think so. If we were to get there, to the Final Four, and, say, got to the championship game, it’s tough to say that.”

Love made a similar full-court, two-handed shot during practice in January when UCLA was practicing at Haas Pavilion before a California game. Howland described the shot but no one outside the team and coaches had seen it before Wednesday.

“Same one,” Love said. “Except the one at Cal was a swish. This one hit a little bit of rim. And that one at Cal took like three or four attempts. It took about 25 this time. I’m getting worse. They should send me home.”

There it was. The one bit of levity in the businesslike UCLA locker room. From the freshman.

Michael Roll, who hasn’t played or practiced since suffering a foot injury Dec. 31, participated in UCLA’s open practice Wednesday.

Howland has refused to say for sure that Roll will not play again this season and be eligible for a redshirt year and two more seasons of eligibility. “You never know,” Howland said. But Roll said, definitively, “There is no scenario. I’m not playing.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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UCLA’s matchup

A look at UCLA’s first-round tournament game against Mississippi Valley State:

*--* STARTERS MISS. Ht Wt Stats P UCLA Ht Wt Stats VALLEY ST. Larry Cox 6-10 225 12.4 ppg C Kevin Love 6-10 271 17.1 ppg Michael 6-2 165 8.0 ppg F L.R. Mbah 6-8 232 8.8 ppg Clark a Moute Eric Petty 6-6 220 6.2 ppg F Josh Shipp 6-5 220 13.0 ppg Carl Lucas 6-5 210 12.7 ppg G Russell 6-3 189 12.6 ppg Westbrook Dwayne 5-11 175 6.2 ppg G Darren 6-0 160 15.2 ppg Harmason Collison RESERVES Chris 6-6 220 8.2 ppg F Alfred 6-9 245 2.3 rpg Watson Aboya Mike Davis 5-8 160 2.4 apg G/C Lorenzo 6-9 237 3.6 rpg Mata-Real Stanford 6-3 215 10.8 ppg G/F James Keefe 6-8 228 2.2 ppg Speech *--*

SCOUTING REPORT: The Delta Devils will try to guard UCLA with man-to-man defense although Bruins Coach Ben Howland said that because Mississippi Valley State Coach James Green had been an assistant at Iowa State to USC Coach Tim Floyd, Howland wouldn’t be surprised if Green employed some triangle and two zone defense. Offensively, the Delta Devils are perimeter oriented and will try to spread UCLA’s man-to-man defense and earn some back-door layups.

KEY TO THE GAME: For UCLA, maybe just judging traffic better. The Bruins were four minutes late arriving from Westwood on Wednesday for their first news conference. For Mississippi Valley State, as Green said, making layups and free throws, “If we get some.”

-- Diane Pucin

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TONIGHT’S GAME

UCLA (31-3) vs. Mississippi Valley State (17-15)

West Regional

at Anaheim, 6:55