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Junior forward Ryan Hollins will look to play big this Saturday against Pepperdine.

After getting its first test against an NCAA-caliber team last Sunday, UCLA’s next test may well be its own resolve and resiliency.

When the men’s basketball team takes on Pepperdine this Saturday at home, they will have to overcome the loss of their only senior as well as deficiencies that have plagued them all year long.

Senior Dijon Thompson, who will miss Saturday’s game due to a hand injury sustained during last week’s game against Boston College, has led the Bruins in rebounding and points this season. His absence will force the Bruins’ front-court players to pick up the slack in the area they have struggled most.

“We don’t have that one guy or two guys that can rebound for us,” coach Ben Howland said. “There’s no one like that. So it’s five guys carrying the load for us.”

Although rebounding is a team effort, the front-court players in particular are who Howland would like to see improve.

“We need Ryan (Hollins) to be more productive in rebounding,” Howland said of his starting power forward. “In the last two games, he has three rebounds in 48 minutes of play. That’s not going to be good enough to beat anyone on our schedule.”

Pepperdine appears to offer the Bruins a good gauge on how the team will cope without Thompson. Pepperdine starting forward Glen McGowan is the Waves’ second-leading rebounder and has paced the team in averaging 18 points a game.

“McGowan presents a lot of problems,” Howland said. “He’s 23 years old. He’s a man. He can step out and post you up.”

Losing on Saturday could be a huge setback for a Bruin team that opened the season winning four straight games. But before going into even tougher non-conference games against Michigan and Michigan State over winter break, a win over Pepperdine could build some of the momentum gone with the Bruins’ loss to Boston College.

“I don’t want to go into the Michigan game with a bad taste in my mouth,” starting center Michael Fey said. “If we get this win, it’s going to help us a lot.”

But for the Bruins to get this win, Fey, along with Hollins, will be the players who need to exert themselves. Besides rebounding, Howland has made a point that his two seven-footers will have to have a bigger presence on the offensive end as well. The two combined to take just six shots against Boston College.

“We need Mike and Ryan to be a force down there,” starting point guard Jordan Farmar said. “We want to get them the ball. We want them to score. We want other teams to have respect for them. And they should because they’re very talented.”