Mata Is Out Eight Weeks

Another day. Another MRI. Another potential season-ending injury for the UCLA basketball team. Sophomore center Lorenzo Mata has a broken right leg, Coach Ben Howland said Friday.

The injury occurred in Thursday night’s game against Washington State when Mata, racing down the court in pursuit of a loose ball, collided with teammate Jordan Farmar.

The fracture, in a bone below the knee, will keep Mata out at least eight weeks. That means the earliest he could be back would be mid-March, after the end of conference play.

UCLA, ranked No. 11 in the nation by the Associated Press, is 14-2 overall, 4-1 and in first place in the Pacific 10 Conference, but Howland is now left with freshman Ryan Wright as his starting center beginning with today’s game against No. 13 Washington (13-2, 2-2) at Pauley Pavilion.

Howland learned earlier this week that he had lost small forward Josh Shipp for the season because of continuing pain after hip surgery in September. It remains uncertain whether small forward Cedric Bozeman, suffering from torn cartilage in his left shoulder, can return this season.

Two other centers, both seniors, are also injured. Michael Fey has a sprained ankle and Ryan Hollins a strained groin. And guard Farmar, though in the starting lineup, is still nursing a sprained ankle that he has re-injured several times.

But nobody is better qualified to serve as a poster boy for this injury-plagued Bruin season than Mata, who was not available for comment Friday. He averaged 4.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 12 games this season.

The 6-foot-8, 235-pounder suffered a concussion in practice Dec. 1, had two teeth knocked out in a game at Michigan, broke his nose last weekend against Arizona State, and now this.

Through it all, Mata was improving steadily, especially in terms of becoming an effective, shot-blocking defensive presence in the middle and a rebounding force.

“He’s been playing the best basketball of his career over the course of the last few games,” Howland said. “He’s been getting better. It’s a bad break for us, and for Lorenzo.”

Asked if he had ever had a team experience a series of injuries such as this, Howland, in his 12th year of coaching, said, “Not even close. I don’t know anybody else who has ever had a season like this. I’ve never even heard of anybody having a season like this.”

How bad has it been?

Hollins got hurt in the team’s layup line before a game against Sacramento State last month.

“I’ve never heard of anybody getting hurt in a layup line,” Howland said.

Rather than merely laying the ball up, Hollins was trying a dunk when he felt pain in his groin area.

Hollins could be back today, although Howland said he would play him no more than 15 minutes. There is no target date for Fey’s return.

“He still has significant swelling,” Howland said about Fey. “It’s taking longer than we thought.”

Before the ankle injury, Fey had a strained groin and a sprained left shoulder.

Asked who his backup center is, Howland joked, “Kelvin Kim” -- a 5-10, 165-pound freshman, walk-on guard.

For the immediate future, Howland said he probably would use freshman forward Alfred Aboya at center on occasion. Aboya had arthroscopic surgeries on both knees before the season.

On most teams, that would make him a part-time player, to be brought along slowly. On this team, if you can walk without crutches, you can be a starter.

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Down and out

*--* PLAYER INJURY Lorenzo Mata broken leg *Josh Shipp hip Cedric Bozeman shoulder Michael Fey sprained ankle Ryan Hollins strained groin

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