During his weekly press conference Tuesday, UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland had a confession to make: He should have played freshman forward Brendan Lane more minutes in Pac-10 play.

Of the Bruins’ 16 conference games, Lane has appeared in 12, but for miniscule minutes early in the season.

However, Lane’s playing time has been on a sharp rise since he started in place of the injured James Keefe against USC on Feb. 14, culminating in a career-high 23 minutes last Saturday against Oregon. With Keefe out for the season, freshman forward Reeves Nelson having just been medically cleared for tonight’s game and the possibility that senior Nikola Dragovic could miss time with a sprained ankle and injured shoulder, Lane could see his role grow when UCLA (13-15, 8-8 Pac-10) faces Arizona (14-14, 8-8) tonight.

Dragovic, normally a forward, moved to the five-spot last weekend in place of Nelson, who is recovering from laser retinopexy on his left eye. Dragovic participated in a full contact practice Wednesday but Howland did not comment on his availability for tonight. In addition, sophomore center J’Mison Morgan is suspended for tonight’s contest for an unspecified violation of team rules. Lane could start at the five-spot, a spot he played in high school and said he is more comfortable with it because it takes pressure off his sprained left ankle.

“Last game, just because of my ankle, it was a lot easier to play inside than going out in the wing and coming back down,” Lane said. “It took a lot more stress off it.”

On the final play of practice last Tuesday, Lane sprained his left ankle, forcing him to miss last Thursday’s game against Oregon State. Lane returned two days later against Oregon, scoring eight points on a perfect four-of-four shooting from the field while earning the respect of his teammates.

“He’s out there with a sprained ankle,” freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt said. “That says a lot about his character.”

Howland was similarly impressed, noting the energy and effort that Lane brings to the floor.

“(He) always tries hard and plays hard, he’s doing his best,” Howland said. “Of course he makes mistakes, but when you make mistakes out of trying as hard as you can, then it’s hard to fault the kids for that. I think he’s going to help us in the future.”

Lane, who was wearing a protective brace around his ankle on Tuesday, said his ankle feels better since injuring it a week ago. That’s good news for a UCLA team looking for revenge against Arizona to begin the final weekend of Pac-10 play.

In the second game of the conference season, Arizona soundly defeated UCLA 77-63. In that game, Arizona guard Kyle Fogg scored a career-high 25 points on nine-of-12 shooting from the field, something which UCLA sophomore guard Malcolm Lee said can’t happen again.

“We just got to play good defense,” Lee said. “We know that he’s going to want to score. Last time, we wasn’t really paying attention to him.”

Fogg was not the lone reason the Bruins struggled; as has been the case throughout the season, UCLA was victimized by its own poor shot selection. In the first game against Arizona, UCLA shot just 5-of-24 from the field in the first half.

Honeycutt said there is no pressure on the team to end the regular season with a pair of wins. Rather, it is just the Pac-10 Tournament that matters.

“We’re not going to win the Pac-10 conference. The games in the tournament are what’s going to count,” Honeycutt said.

With reports from Farzad Mashhood, Bruin Sports senior staff.