Malcolm Lee limited in open practiceMarch, 16, 2011 Mar 161:52PM PT
By Peter Yoon
ESPNLA.com, UCLA Report
TAMPA, Fla.--UCLA's junior guard Malcolm Lee sat out most of the team's Wednesday afternoon open practice at the St. Pete Times Forum, where the No. 7-seeded Bruins will face No. 10 Michigan State Thursday in their NCAA tournament opener.
Lee, a junior all-conference guard, tore cartilage in his left knee in UCLA's regular-season finale last week on March 5. He played last week in the Pac-10 Conference tournament and said he practiced at full speed earlier this week and was not concerned about playing this week.
A school spokesman said Lee participated fully in the team's morning practice, a regular game prep session, but was held out of the open practice--a glorified shootaround--for precautionary reasons.
He was on the court with the team, but was not in his practice uniform. He did not participate in pre-practice warmups and only passed to teammates during drills, shot free throws and went through some light shooting drills.
Lee is one of only two UCLA players with NCAA tournament experience. He and junior guard Jerime Anderson were freshman on the 2009 team that defeated Virginia Commonwealth in the first round and lost to Villanova in the second.
Doctors have told Lee he would need surgery on his knee after the season, but that he did not risk further damage by playing through it.
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