Collison says his knee is not an issue

UCLA point guard Darren Collison insists the left knee he sprained in the first exhibition is not a problem. "It's getting better every day," Collison said after UCLA's 69-54 victory over Michigan on Saturday.

Collison scored only seven points (on two-for-eight shooting) in his 37 minutes. Several times he seemed to pull back rather than taking an open lane and driving to the basket, and he never used his crossover dribble, which was one of his signature moves a year ago. But if his eye-popping quickness is still bundled under the brace he is wearing, Collison did have six rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

"I'm feeling less pain," a stoic Collison insisted. "The knee is not an issue."

UCLA center Kevin Love was smiling after the Bruins' victory. Love had 17 points and no complaints about how much he touched the ball or how many shots he took.

Kevin Love was four for eight from the field, made nine of his 10 free throws and was a lively rebounder with 16.

"There was a little corner play," Love said. "I was sent to the corner, Russ [Westbrook] was in the middle and Darren up top. Pick your poison. And Josh [Shipp] stepped up, hit a couple of threes. I got some touches, we outboarded Michigan, outplayed them in the second half. So it was good."

UCLA Coach Ben Howland, though, said he thought Kevin Love should have gotten the ball more.

"We still didn't do a good enough job," Howland said. "He had a couple of easy layups missed because we didn't post-feed the lane properly, because we didn't read the lanes properly.

I remember one time Luc [Richard Mbah a Moute] had a turnover in the corner because Kevin was wide open, and we didn't get him the ball."

Love was also happy to be getting the chance to go home for Christmas.

With the eighth-ranked Bruins not playing game until Saturday against UC Davis at Pauley Pavilion, Howland dismissed the Bruins for a three-day Christmas break after Saturday's victory.

"I'm so excited," said Kevin Love who was flying home to Lake Oswego, Ore. "I love Los Angeles, don't get me wrong. But I'm happy to be getting to go back home to Oregon. I didn't expect it. This will be my first time home since I got here."

Shipp is always home in Los Angeles, but the UCLA junior said this would be the first time in almost two years that he, his younger brother Jerren (who is a sophomore basketball player at Arizona State) and his older brother Joe (who is playing for a professional team in Spain) are all home at the same time.

Juniors Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya will be spending their third straight Christmas in Los Angeles instead of home in Cameroon.

Mbah a Moute said if he were at home it would be much like Christmas in the United States. "You do food. The family gets together, you get presents, everybody opens up their presents, you eat food."

Aboya said his family would go to church, come home and have a family dinner. And presents? "I'm too old for presents," Aboya said. And there wouldn't be a Christmas tree either. "We light up the house," Aboya said, "but no Christmas tree."

Both Mbah a Moute and Aboya said they had no plans for Christmas in Los Angeles though Howland said he wasn't worried the two would be alone. "They have a lot of friends they've made. Cameroonians, girlfriends," Howland said.

Also far from home is Serbian sophomore forward Nikola Dragovic. He said the Serbian Christmas is Jan. 7 and that his mother will come to Los Angeles next month to celebrate the holiday.

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