NO. 5 UCLA 76, UC DAVIS 48

It's over and it's starting.

The dulling parade of lesser teams that provide chalk-talk lessons for UCLA Coach Ben Howland has passed through town.

After fifth-ranked UCLA dispatched UC Davis, 76-48, on Saturday in front of 10,242 at Pauley Pavilion, Bruins point guard Darren Collison almost broke out of his brace, that one that has acted as both a haven for his sprained left knee and an anvil to be dragged about, taking away his defensive quickness, his instinctive crossover dribble, his ebullient drives.

Collison expects to dump that brace at practice Monday, just in time to get ready for the most important part of the season, the upcoming 18 straight games against Pacific 10 Conference teams.

"I can hardly wait," said Collison, who had a game-high 14 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 27 minutes. "It's time for the brace to go and just in time too."

Freshman center Kevin Love, who barely missed his seventh double-double of the season when he had 13 points and nine rebounds, said he was eager for UCLA (12-1) to play at Stanford on Thursday. "We're really excited to move on to some really good competition," said Kevin Love, who also had a season-high four blocked shots.

"We've had a few tests and some great games, but now it's the next 18 games I'm looking forward to."

Howland had a specific objective in scheduling the Aggies (5-7), who are in their first year of NCAA Division I tournament eligibility. UC Davis operates the technical Princeton offense, a pattern of deliberate passes and cuts that forces the opponent to play 25 or 30 seconds of defense over and over.

It is a tactic the Bruins expect from league opponents such as Washington State, California and Stanford, Howland said.

"They spread us out defensively," he said. "That's how Cal beat us a year ago in the Pac-10 tournament, by spreading us out. That's what we're going to see against a couple of our opponents in the next four games. It's hard to grind it out on defense 20, 25, 30 seconds every time."

UCLA played without backup center Lorenzo Mata-Real, who remained in street clothes to rest a strained left groin, an injury he suffered in practice Wednesday. Collison said he was still "pained" by the left ankle he sprained in practice Thursday, and forward Josh Shipp wore a protective sleeve on his left knee, which stiffened after practice Friday.

"My biggest concern," Howland said, "is us getting healthy and executing our offense real well whatever defense we're seeing."

The Aggies operated their mesmerizing offense well sometimes in the first half.

They shot 66.7% but were able to take only 15 shots and make 10. Howland wasn't displeased with the Bruins' defense either.

"We did a good job of forcing turnovers (21) without gambling," he said. "I felt our man-to-man defense was aggressive and got them to do things they were uncomfortable with."

UC Davis was also overwhelmed with UCLA's size and strength. The Bruins had 15 offensive rebounds to two for the Aggies, and the 37 shots UC Davis took were the fewest for the team this season.

Howland also notices each detail. He complimented junior Michael Roll, who has been slowed this season by a ruptured plantar fascia tendon and more recently by flu, for taking, as Howland called it, "his first charge ever." When assembled media laughed, Howland said he wasn't kidding.

"It was at the end of a shot-clock violation," Howland said, "and he didn't get credit for it. I'm serious about that."

The Bruins have played one official road game, at Michigan, and they trailed by eight points two-thirds of the way through before winning by 15. Now they start trying to earn a third consecutive conference title away from home. A year ago the Bruins were victim to a 39-14 Stanford run at Maples Pavilion that turned a 12-point UCLA halftime lead into an upset defeat.

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