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Sophomore guard Jordan Farmar sat out Tuesday’s game with a sprained ankle, according to co

Upon arriving at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday, UCLA shifted its focus from the Great Danes of Albany to the great mystery surrounding Jordan Farmar.

The Bruins’ sophomore point guard was not in uniform for UCLA’s 73-65 victory over Albany on Tuesday night after he received conflicting results about the severity of an injury to his right foot.

After the game, UCLA coach Ben Howland relayed to reporters the best news he’d heard all day – his point guard will likely miss a few games with a sprained ankle.

That was a much better prognosis than what Howland was told in his office earlier Tuesday morning, that Farmar had suffered a stress fracture in his foot and would be out at least four to six weeks.

“Believe me, I was excited, happy, elated,” Howland said. “It was obviously on my mind for most of the day because when I got here this morning there was confusion about it. Now we can finally put it to rest.”

Farmar, who originally injured his foot against Temple on Nov. 17, had an MRI on Monday night that was inconclusive, but it was feared he had suffered stress fractures in two metatarsals.

The sophomore then had a second MRI on Tuesday afternoon, which showed exactly what he and his coach wanted to see – nothing.

By the time Farmar limped off the court, it was clear that the most tired Bruin on Tuesday was the one wearing jeans and a collared shirt, sitting at the end of the bench.

“Man, it’s been a long day,” Farmar said. “It’s been really tiring. I prepared myself mentally to deal with the next couple of weeks. I’ve been in this boot all day and was ready to wear it for four to six weeks.”

Due to the conflicting diagnoses, however, Farmar said he would seek an outside opinion sometime today, and he plans to sit out UCLA’s next few practices and the game against Coppin State this Sunday.

He is prepared not to rush back to the court too soon, saying he will not return until he is close to 100 percent.

“I don’t want to come back too early and have it be something that lasts all year long,” said Farmar, who complained of pain in his ankle after each of UCLA’s two games in New York last week.

“If I can knock it out early and let it heal, I can miss only a couple of games. If I let it persist for a long time, it can end up bothering me for the rest of the time I play basketball.”

Without Farmar, the Bruins reacted to Albany as though to an illness. It took a while for UCLA to shake the Great Danes – a long while.

The Bruins let a 19-point first-half lead evaporate during a 17-0 Albany run that stretched from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second, and the Great Danes held the lead with nearly 13 minutes remaining in the game.

UCLA only cemented the victory in the final minute when freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute rebounded a Darren Collison miss to give the Bruins a 7-point lead. Mbah a Moute finished with a double-double, with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

“What you saw today when (Albany) came back was immaturity on the part of this team,” said sophomore Arron Afflalo, who led UCLA with 22 points.

“We can’t have any lapses if we want to beat teams. We have a lot of things to work on.”

But before they do, the Bruins would like to get everyone healthy and back on the court.

And while the extent of Farmar’s injury was received with welcoming arms, it still adds to a laundry list of injured Bruins that seems to have a new addition each week.

“You want to compete at a certain level, but it’s tough when everyone’s going in and out,” Afflalo said.