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Jawann McClellan says he doesn't know what position he plays anymore. Same with Jerryd Bayless.

Doesn't really matter.

Arizona beat Missouri-Kansas City 81-62 on Monday by using another makeshift small lineup. Interim coach Kevin O'Neill popped the 6-foot-4-inch McClellan into the power forward spot often and had Bayless shifting between both guard slots, while getting a pair of bonuses from the backcourt: a career-high 14 points from Daniel Dillon and a breakout performance from freshman Laval Lucas-Perry.

"KO just tells me to go out there and make plays," Bayless said. "He doesn't really call me a point guard or a two-guard. He just tells me to be a player, to go out there and make plays."

So Bayless did. He scored a game-high 20 points, approaching a triple-double with nine assists and nine rebounds.

"He missed a quadruple-double by four turnovers, also," O'Neill said, laughing when referring to Bayless' six turnovers, but added: "I mean, no matter who you're playing, when you're a freshman, that's a great night."

While Bayless helped the Wildcats give away 14 turnovers, he didn't suffer the same kind of early-game lethargy that appeared to afflict his teammates for the second straight game.

Arizona trailed the Kangaroos of the mid-major Summit League 20-16 with 6:47 left in the first half and did not begin to pull away until the four minutes before halftime.

But the ever-fiery Bayless had 11 points and seven assists by halftime, with three turnovers, one that led to the Kangaroos' four-point lead.

"He's competitive, he's a little bit of a bull in a china closet sometimes," O'Neill said. "He wants to make things happen so well for the team that he gets ahead of himself a little bit."

Then there was Dillon, a senior who has made a quick ascension back into the playing rotation after he wasn't even able to get in the Wildcats' first exhibition game. Dillon has now started two straight games, after O'Neill unsuccessfully went with forward Jamelle Horne in last week's opener against NAU.

"As soon as Daniel started playing better in practice, he got in the games and he started playing," O'Neill said. "I don't know. Maybe I'm a little bit different, but I'm a big believer that how you play in practice is how you'll play in the games."

Not only did Dillon help keep the Kangaroos to just 35 percent shooting, but he also hit all four field goals he attempted, including three three-pointers.

"I felt good shooting the ball tonight," Dillon said. "I love the intensity of the game, and it was good to (start) tonight. I just kept shooting from the warm-ups right into the game."

Dillon helped the Wildcats pull comfortably away from the Kangaroos in the second half. During a 13-5 UA run early in the second half, he had a three-point play and three-point basket to give UA a 55-38 lead.

Dillon later hit a three-pointer that put UA up 60-38 with 13:29 left. Although three-pointers from UMKC's Reggie Hamilton and Tim Blackwell cut it to 62-44, the Wildcats were not challenged the rest of the way.

While Dillon did not start the second half because he had picked up three fouls, O'Neill started Lucas-Perry after halftime and was not disappointed in the result.

Perry had nine points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal in 24 minutes while playing well defensively.

"The good thing about Laval is he can play a couple of different positions," O'Neill said. "He guards pretty well. He's a hard-playing guy. Doesn't get fazed by much. I liked the way he played tonight."

Lately, though, Lucas-Perry hasn't been playing any position. He did not play against NAU and logged just two minutes against Virginia on Saturday.

"It's all about patience," Lucas-Perry said. "People got into foul trouble and I had to come in and provide a spark. I had to do something offensively or defensively. But we won as a team. That's all I've got to say."

● The Wildcats fell out of both major Top 25 polls. They began this season ranked 17th in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls after falling out of the polls on Feb. 19 last season.

● The Maui Invitational announced that the field Arizona will face in its 2009 event will include Louisville, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt and Chaminade.