UCLA feeling it for showdown

It’s the glamour matchup of the week in college basketball, as fourth-ranked and undefeated Washington State (14-0, 2-0), popping with confidence, steps into Pauley Pavilion to meet fifth-ranked UCLA (15-1, 3-0).

That the game is at 11:30 a.m. and will be televised by FSN Prime Ticket and not one of those other networks where the rest of the country might feel the buzz does not mean today’s result won’t give a good indication of who probably will win the Pacific 10 Conference and even get a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament’s West Region.

And there was Bruins Coach Ben Howland speaking Friday in a monotone, wearily deflecting questions about which of his players will be available for the game.

Swingman Michael Roll is out indefinitely because of a foot injury. Point guard Darren Collison bruised his left hip and forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute bruised his right knee in Thursday’s 69-55 win over Washington, leaving Howland’s substitution patterns in tatters.

Collison and Mbah a Moute participated in Friday’s light practice and are listed as probable starters.

Howland said he watched the tape of the moment Collison said he got hurt. It came early in the second half when Collison and Washington guard Ryan Appleby touched hips while going for the ball.

“If you just looked at it, it looked very benign,” Howland said. “If you look at that moment, you’d think nothing happened. Appleby must have hit him in the right spot.”

On Thursday night, after he hobbled out of the locker room, Collison said he was frustrated.

“This team’s got a bright future ahead and all I can do is keep my head up and stay positive,” he said. “I’m going through a lot of adversity right now and it’s really going to challenge me to see how I progress and mature through these situations.”

Both Howland and assistant coach Donny Daniels went to the end of the bench where Collison stayed after hurting himself to see if their point guard could return to the Washington game.

The answer was no.

“I tried to go and if I have a slight advantage by playing and if I can play I’m going to try,” Collison said. “But I couldn’t.”

With or without Collison, Howland said dealing with the Cougars, their experienced perimeter players and the massive inside presence of 6-foot-10, 270-pound center Aron Baynes will be a severe test. Howland noted that Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver and Taylor Rochestie can all run Coach Tony Bennett’s well-choreographed offense.

“Rochestie and Weaver have great assist-to-turnover ratios,” Howland said. “One of the things they do, they really are great screeners. They set very good, physical screens, they do a great job of reading, setting screens and passing the ball.”

Weaver has 59 assists and 31 turnovers and Rochestie has 69 assists and 29 turnovers.

If there was optimism to be found around UCLA amid the limping ice-bag holders, it was the continuing offensive confidence of Mbah a Moute.

The junior from Cameroon made three jump shots of 15 feet or longer, was six for 11 from the field and made all five of his foul shots. Mbah a Moute says he understands that for now most teams will focus their defense on Kevin Love, Josh Shipp, Collison and Russell Westbrook.

“I know they come out and deny and do everything they can to limit those guys,” he said. “I have to be aggressive, make sure and attack the rim, make the next pass, do everything I can to score.”

Love, a freshman, says he has watched Mbah a Moute improve his shooting over the last two years.

“It’s not that I’m saying he shot the ball terribly,” Love said, “but he didn’t shoot the ball as well as he does now. When he’s shooting well, he frees things up for us. We’ve been scoring it pretty efficiently from every player the past few conference games and if we keep doing that teams can’t double-team any of us in the post.”

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TODAY

vs. Washington State, 11:30 a.m., FSN Prime

Radio -- 570.

Site -- Pauley Pavilion.

Records -- UCLA 15-1, 3-0 in Pacific 10, Washington State 14-0, 2-0.

Update -- The Bruins have won the last six meetings between the teams, including a game in Pullman last season that clinched the conference title for UCLA. The Cougars and Bruins are the top two league teams in scoring defense (the Cougars give up 50.4 points a game, UCLA 54.9) and the top two teams in scoring margin (UCLA wins by an average of 19.6, Washington State by 18.4). While the Bruins pride themselves on being a second-half team, the Cougars are beating teams in the second half by an average of 13 points.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com