UCLA NOTEBOOK: SENIOR RUBIN OUT FOR SEASON.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

UCLA coach Ben Howland's pledge to play his starters less minutes became more difficult Tuesday when the school learned senior guard Janou Rubin needed surgery to repair his left knee and will miss the rest of the year.

Rubin played an effective 16 minutes in Sunday's 70-62 win at Oregon, and his play enabled Howland to use Dijon Thompson exclusively at power forward and kept Ryan Hollins on the bench all game.

However, with Rubin out, Howland said he will be forced to use Thompson at small forward at times. That gives Hollins a chance to regain playing time, or Howland could turn to senior Josiah Johnson.

``I really feel bad for Janou,'' Howland said. ``It's tough because I really figured out what we were going to be able to do now, playing five perimeter players and him giving us 15 minutes a game. Come in, play hard and play smart.

``It's a setback for us from the standpoint of feeling good about what we had just come off of, how we played.''

An admittedly frustrated Hollins, who played two minutes total during the trip to Oregon State and Oregon after averaging 23.9 in UCLA's first eight games, said he met with Howland to discuss the situation.

``I need to rebound a lot better, I need to play within myself,'' said Hollins, who is averaging 5.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. ``We talked about how this week (of practice) was important to come out and show I could do those things and be able to play.''

One of the benefits of Rubin's minutes against Oregon was the rest it provided point guard Jordan Farmar, who was leading the Pacific-10 Conference in minutes at 34.2 per game.

Farmar played a season-low 27 minutes against the Ducks, and matched his season-low with one turnover and played stellar defense.

``I felt really good playing on Sunday,'' Farmar said. ``I was fresh the whole game, and it showed in the play. It's my job to be in the best shape that I can, so I can play as much as I'm needed to.''

--Rubin's knee: Rubin's injury means an end to his UCLA career. He couldn't play Friday at Oregon State but played at Oregon. However, an MRI on Monday revealed a lateral femoral condyle defect, which is causing bone chips to form in his knee.

``He has three pieces of bone chips floating around in his knee right now,'' Howland said.

If Rubin tried to play through the pain, he would risk making the injury worse, Howland said. Surgery is slated for Thursday.

--Charity stripe: Power forward Matt McKinney said he was diagnosed with involuntary muscular disorder, which is why he often gets fatigued after several minutes of play. He added he is drinking plenty of electrolytes before and during practices and is taking caffeine pills before games to help stave off fatigue. ... The Bruins' trip home from Oregon was much longer than expected. Their flight home Sunday was canceled, so the team spent the night in Eugene, took a bus to Portland in the morning and arrived back at campus about 2 p.m. Monday.

Brian Dohn, [phone]

brian.dohn(at)dailynews.com