Damage of star guard’s play minimized by pressure

TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; As Arizona’s players filed off the court following their loss to UCLA, one fan in the Arizona student section yelled out, “One more year, Jerryd!”

Jerryd Bayless, Arizona’s star freshman guard and leading scorer, is believed by some to be a potential NBA lottery pick if he leaves school after this season. And if Sunday was his final game at the McKale Center, he likely won’t look back on it fondly.

Stopping Bayless, who averages over 20 points a game, was a major focus of the Bruins’ defensive game plan. Russell Westbrook guarded him most of the game, but Darren Collison also matched up with him for stretches in the second half. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute even switched on to Bayless when he had the ball during Arizona’s final possession.

“We threw everything at Bayless,” Collison said. “We threw everything at him we had. It was a team effort.”

That effort was reasonably successful. While Bayless did finish with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, he also had nearly as many turnovers (3) as he did assists (4). And, of course, the Bruins finished ahead in the most important statistic for measuring a point guard: the final score.

“We did a good job on Bayless,” coach Ben Howland said. “Bayless is really good.”

Howland suggested that there was nothing particularly complicated about the Bruins’ plan for defending against Bayless. Howland also rejected the idea that the Bruins were making a point to try to force Bayless to drive right rather than left, and said that the switching off between Westbrook and Collison was simply part of the flow of the game.

“We (were) just playing our normal defense for the most part, trying to pressure the ball,” Howland said. “Now that he’s the primary ball-handler, he’s making a lot more passes that lead to baskets, as he did early in the game.”

Westbrook, for his part, said he didn’t guard Bayless any differently than he would anyone else.

“He’s a good player,” Westbrook said. “I just wanted to stay in front (of him) and do what I do.”

BUBBLE BURST?: Heading into the weekend, Arizona was considered a likely candidate to receive an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. But Sunday’s loss, combined with a Thursday night loss to USC, leaves the Wildcats’ tournament hopes more uncertain.

Arizona will now likely have to sweep its road games against the Oregon schools next weekend, or else play deep in to the Pac-10 Tournament, to guarantee itself a bid.

“I am not going to get involved in politics, I am just going to let our playing do the talking,” Arizona coach Kevin O’Neill said. “I just want to play through the rest of the season and see what (the selection committee says). I doubt there are 64 teams better than us, but we will see.”

Howland said he actually hopes Arizona does make it in to the tournament.

“I want Arizona to get into the tournament, I just don’t want them to get in because we got beat here today,” Howland said. “They’ll represent the Pac-10 very well.”

GONE, BUT NOT FORGETTING: Sunday was Arizona’s final home game of the season, and after the game the crowd at the McKale Center honored Wildcat seniors Jawann McClellan, Daniel Dillon, Bret Brielmaier and Kirk Walters.

Lute Olson, Arizona’s long-time coach who is currently on a year-long leave of absence from the team for personal reasons, was on hand to present senior awards.

“It was the right thing to do having him show up to give the seniors their awards,” O’Neill said. “I have given him his space to deal with his personal matters. It is his team, and I am just a caretaker.”

Olson did not speak with the media.

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