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There are a lot of things you're supposed to do in Kevin O'Neill's system and others you simply must.

So while Arizona dominated Fresno State in a 69-50 win Sunday with the kind of patient offense and stubborn defense the UA interim coach prefers, the Wildcats also didn't screw up in the area they couldn't afford to: having fun.

Freshmen Jerryd Bayless and Jamelle Horne teamed up for a risky highlight reel play in the second half, with Bayless stealing the ball, then driving in on the break to dish under his legs to Horne, who dunked emphatically.

Failing was not an option.

"I wouldn't have seen the floor at all," Horne said about the potential of missing. "I would have been done."

Not only were the moves ones the Wildcats don't practice in O'Neill's structured system, they are among those expressly forbidden. Horne said attempting such a move in practice would probably prompt O'Neill to immediately stop everything and send guilty players home.

But Bayless, who said he passed between his legs routinely at St. Mary's High School, had the confidence to give it a shot. He didn't worry about the consequences of a breakdown.

"You've just got to make sure you get it done at this level or coach O'Neill might lose his mind," Bayless said. "If you do something fancy and the ball gets turned over, you're dead. But if you make the play, he's not going to say something about it."

Afterward, O'Neill only said this:

"I tell the guys this all the time: 'If you complete it, I'm for it,' " O'Neill said. "If you throw a hook shot from halfcourt and it banks in, I'll cheer my little behind right off. Don't bobble it, though."

As it turned out, O'Neill had reason to mostly cheer Sunday. While he fretted over the Wildcats' defense in the last eight minutes of the game, when Fresno shaved 10 points off Arizona's 29-point lead, O'Neill said he couldn't complain about most of the game.

While the Wildcats were still trailing just over 10 minutes into the first half, they didn't suffer the usual early turnover and foul trouble. Then they built their lead to 19 by halftime and 29 with nine minutes to go.

Arizona (7-2) did so by playing unselfish, patient offense that generated 21 assists for 27 field goals. In the first half, the Wildcats dished 13 assists for 15 shots.

"In the first half, we really ran our stuff well," O'Neill said. "We got to the second or third options and set plays. We shared the ball fairly well on the break when we had opportunity breaks. I was very happy with the way our guys move the ball and executed."

O'Neill especially had no reason to complain about Bayless, who scored 13 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half to give the Wildcats the lead for good.

Bayless had three three-pointers during that span, plus an alley-oop dunk off a well-placed pass from Nic Wise. It was reminiscent of the way Bayless singlehandedly put the Wildcats on his back during their first half struggles against Texas A&M two weeks ago.

But instead of making a big deal of it, Bayless shrugged.

"Coach O'Neill started calling some plays for me and I made the shots," Bayless said.

Just a month ago, though, O'Neill could call those same plays and watch Bayless sometimes go too far with them, overpenetrating or otherwise turning the ball over mostly by trying too hard to make things happen.

O'Neill even said Bayless could be a "bull in a china closet" after he had six turnovers against Missouri-Kansas City on Nov. 19.

Sunday, there were no such worries. Bayless made 8 of 14 field goal attempts, had three assists, two steals and only three turnovers.

"I think Jerryd's becoming a very high percentage type player," O'Neill said. "He doesn't do nearly as many things that he can't do right now that he was earlier in the year, because he's getting a better feel for the game.

"He had a couple of forced plays, but overall I thought the guy's maturing into a really fine guard. He obviously has great talent and he's obviously going to be a very good player at many levels for a long time."

Defensively, the Wildcats measured up to O'Neill's standards, too. They held the jump-shot happy Bulldogs to 33.9 percent field goal shooting. Fresno State made just 4 of 13 threes in the first half, though they managed to make 7 of 16 in the second half to help get the final score under 20.

"Every time they went in to shoot, there was a hand in their face," guard Jawann McClellan said. "We just locked it up."