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When the Bruins limped their way to an 0-2 start, Steve Lavin talked at great lengths about how much UCLA missed Andre Patterson.

The sophomore forward, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches but plays like he’s six inches taller, had to watch from the stands of Pauley Pavilion for a month while he waited for grades at Santa Monica College to render him eligible to play for the Bruins once again.

But by the time he was cleared and entered last night’s game against

Portland with just over eleven minutes left, his return was academic.

UCLA’s much-maligned big men had already staked ownership of the paint without him against a Portland front line that resembled a smurf colony.

“When we have everyone play like that, we can do anything,” junior forward TJ Cummings said.

The 6-foot-11-inch Cummings struggled in UCLA’s pair of opening-season losses, often looking meek in comparison to opposing seven-footers. But last night against the Pilots, he played with a renewed sense of purpose, pulling down nine rebounds and slamming home a couple of putbacks en route to 13 points.

The Bruins outrebounded Portland 33-8 in the first half and 61-31 for the game.

Perhaps most encouraging, though, was the play of the Bruins’ two freshman centers, Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins. Fey got his second straight start and looked less wide-eyed. He blocked three shots and scored seven points in 16 minutes.

“I felt the most comfortable I’ve been all year in this game,” Fey

said. “Everyone knew we had a height advantage coming in.”

Hollins played 15 minutes and blocked a pair of shots of his own, including the second half of back-to-back swats with Fey. He also pulled down eight rebounds with a ferocity that had been absent in his first three games.

Lavin and the Bruins expected some growing pains while their inexperienced big men tried to make up for the absence of Dan Gadzuric, the Herculean center who now plays with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. Patterson was supposed to be an integral part of the process, but the academic ineligibility news sidetracked UCLA a bit.

Lavin said after the game that he didn’t intend to play Patterson, who finished with three points, two blocks and two steals in seven minutes and electrified the crowd with a one-handed alley-oop dunk.

But with the Bruins up by 30 points for much of the second half, and the Pauley crowd chanting his name, Lavin sent Patterson in.

Doubts and concerns still remain, especially as a Dec. 21 date with Kansas’ skilled and powerful center, Nick Collison, approaches. The Bruins have won their last two games by such convincing margins in large part because of gross size mismatches that are unlikely to continue once the Pac-10 season begins. Elated as they appeared after the victory, they’ll still need to grow up fast.

They convinced at least one interested observer, though.

“I was impressed with what I saw,” Portland coach Michael Holton

said. “What they have going for them, even though they are young, is great length.”