Howland is not set on lineup changes

With the latest UCLA basketball injury -- Michael Roll’s second possible partial tear or rupture of a tendon in the bottom of his left foot -- Coach Ben Howland has some lineup refiguring to do.

But Tuesday, two days before the fifth-ranked Bruins play Stanford to start defense of their consecutive Pacific 10 Conference championships, Howland wasn’t ready to make any commitments.

With Roll, a swingman who was expected to play 20 minutes per game at shooting guard and small forward, scheduled for an MRI exam today, Howland was unwilling to speculate on how long Roll would be out or whether the junior might need a medical redshirt season.

As well, Howland wouldn’t say whether he would reconsider the status of power forward James Keefe, who has yet to play this season while recovering from shoulder surgery and is expected to be a redshirt.

Last month, Howland and Keefe agreed the sophomore would sit out this season unless there was a season-ending injury to an inside player. Keefe would be competing for minutes with Lorenzo Mata-Real, Alfred Aboya, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Kevin Love. Roll backed up Josh Shipp and Russell Westbrook.

Howland said Tuesday that he was uncomfortable playing a seven-man rotation during the next 18 conference games.

“As hard as we play defensively and how we emphasize pressuring the ball and how physical and strong our league is, I don’t think you can have success playing just seven guys that many minutes,” Howland said. “I think we need an eighth and a ninth man available to us.”

Roll’s preliminary diagnosis is of a partial tear in a different spot from the first injury, with his being out three weeks, Howland said. If the MRI exam confirms that diagnosis, “My first inclination is that I want him to come back,” Howland said. “We’re trying to do something now with this team. We have so much experience returning from back-to-back Final Fours. We are trying to win now.”

Roll suffered a similar injury Nov. 3 and sat out UCLA’s first seven games. Howland said Roll suffered the injury Monday during a drill. “He went to push off on his toe,” Howland said. “It was not like he was jumping, it was just a quick push and he felt a twinge.”

During Roll’s initial absence from the lineup, Mbah a Moute moved from power forward to small forward, but the junior’s production in rebounding and scoring has risen constantly since Roll was back in the rotation and Mbah a Moute could concentrate on playing power forward. He’s averaging 10.1 points and 5.4 rebounds, up from 7.2 points and 3.0 rebounds before Roll came back.

“It’s fine with me,” Mbah a Moute said of switching positions. “It’s a different mind-set. You’re guarding different people. At [small forward] you’re chasing people around and getting around screens and stuff. At [power forward] you body up.”

Howland may also rely more on freshman Chace Stanback and sophomore Nikola Dragovic, who were not part of the eight-man rotation he planned to use during conference play.

“I think Chace has improved,” Howland said, “and I thought he played well in the UC Davis game. He’s had good practices since Christmas break. . . . Nikola Dragovic is practicing hard, but I told him the one thing we expect him to do well is shoot the ball and he’s not done that.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com