Collison extends shooting range

Darren Collison doesn’t surprise himself a lot.

He expected to step immediately into the UCLA point guard job vacated by Jordan Farmar and run the Bruins. He expected to be the kind of harassing defender that makes opposing coaches yell at the game film beforehand and congratulate Collison afterward on his long arms and active defensive presence.

Collison did not, however, expect to be leading the Pacific 10 Conference in three-point shooting percentage in league games. This is not one of those fake statistics derived from phenomenal numbers because he only takes five or 10 shots a year.

Collison, a 6-foot-1 sophomore who has a hitch in his shooting stroke, has taken 52 three-point shots in 14 games and has made 28 of them. That’s 53.8% shooting.

“Honestly,” Collison said, “I didn’t expect that.”

He is 41 of 81 this season, still over 50%. As UCLA Coach Ben Howland always says, making 30% of three-pointers is great.

Howland says Collison is such a good three-point shooter because “he practices his shot. And he’s smart about it.”

USC’s Nick Young, who has taken only 33 three-pointers, is second in percentage shooting at 51.5%.

The next two most accurate three-point shooters are Washington State’s Daven Harmeling (31 of 64, 48.4%) and USC’s Lodrick Stewart (32 of 68, 47.1%).

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The Bruins (23-3, 12-2) moved from fifth to fourth in the Associated Press poll after sweeping their Pac-10 games in Arizona last week. The voters were harsh, though, on USC and Arizona.

The Trojans gave Arizona State its first conference win of the season and Arizona lost twice. Both teams dropped out of the top 25. Marquette, however, which is on a three-game losing streak, is still ranked No. 16. One of the Golden Eagles’ losses was to North Dakota State.

Meanwhile, Howland said that earning a No. 1 seed is important for the Bruins, who could advance to the Final Four in Atlanta without leaving California (Pac-10 tournament at Staples Center, first- and second-round games at Sacramento, regional semifinals and finals in San Jose).

“Having our fans that close is an advantage,” Howland said.

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UCLA plays host to California on Thursday. When the Bruins beat the Bears, 62-46, last month at Haas Pavilion, it was Arron Afflalo who starred offensively -- he had a game-high 25 points -- and defensively, holding Cal guard Ayinde Ubaka to zero points on 0-for-8 shooting.

Ubaka is Cal’s second-leading scorer (14.0 points a game) but it is not that defensive performance Afflalo remembers.

“We haven’t beaten Cal at Pauley since I’ve been here,” Afflalo said. “That’s all I’m thinking about.”

The Bruins bring an 18-game Pauley winning streak into Thursday’s game. Afflalo has his own streak: He has scored in double figures 25 straight times, longest streak in the conference.

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Game times and television outlets have been announced for UCLA’s last two regular-season games. The Bruins will play at Washington State on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. on FSN Prime Ticket and at Washington on March 3 at 11 a.m. on Channel 2.

diane.pucin@latimes.com