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Jerryd Bayless is still experiencing knee pain when he moves side to side, leaving his availability for Wednesday's game against Arizona State in doubt.

Neither the freshman guard nor UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill would speculate Monday about whether Bayless would play Wednesday. Bayless has missed the past three games since spraining his right knee during a Dec. 28 practice.

O'Neill called Bayless' status a "day-to-day thing," and would not rule the UA's leading scorer in or out for Wednesday.

"I'm not counting on him playing," O'Neill said. "I don't think you should ever count on an injured player playing until they tell you they're gonna play."

Bayless, who shot jumpers during Monday's morning practice and did some light running in the afternoon workout, has extra motivation to play. The Phoenix St. Mary's High School graduate would play in front of his family and against his best friend, ASU guard Christian Polk.

"I'd like to play in front of my family and friends," Bayless said. "But I've got to look out for what's best for me and the team right now."

Without Bayless, O'Neill might be tempted to start four guards — Nic Wise, Jawann McClellan, Chase Budinger and Daniel Dillon — to try to counteract the Sun Devils' extended, aggressive zone defense.

The Wildcats, however, would be left with only two guards on the bench, walk-on David Bagga and the redshirting Zane Johnson, neither of whom is a reasonable option.

"The problem is, if we go four perimeter guys with Daniel and Jerryd's not playing, and any of the perimeter guys get in trouble, who do you put in?" O'Neill said. "We actually don't have another perimeter player over there to come off the bench, so that makes it a little bit difficult."

Bayless could be needed now more than ever, to drive through and shoot over ASU's zone.

"Jerryd's instant offense," Wise said. "Jerryd can score any time he wants. Whenever the shot clock gets down, you give the ball to him and he makes plays for us."

O'Neill said he is not worried about his guard's state of mind.

"I haven't sat down and had a Dr. Phil meeting with him or anything like that," he joked. "I haven't thought that to be necessary."

● Two days after Jordan Hill was limited to eight first-half minutes because of foul trouble, O'Neill reiterated how important the forward is.

"Let's face it — when the guy's not in there, we're an average team up front," O'Neill said. "We don't have anyone on our bench who can adequately replace Jordan Hill. That's just the way it is.

"Because of that, when he's not in there for long stretches of time, Bret (Brielmaier) and Fendi (Onobun) are 6-6. Jamelle (Horne) is 6-7 but thin and a freshman. It's a challenge to rebound when Jordan's not in the ballgame."

O'Neill said he did not consider playing center Kirk Walters in Saturday's loss to Oregon.

"He would have been the last guy who could have guarded any of those guys," he said. "If I feel Kirk can help us, I'll play him. Sometimes I'm comfortable with him out there against certain matchups. Sometimes I'm not."

● O'Neill was asked if he retained any memories of the Arizona State rivalry from his first stint as a UA assistant.

"I was there when the whole Steve Kerr incident happened," he said. "To me, that's not very memorable. That's kind of unfortunate, that a few fans misrepresented their university."

On Feb. 27, 1988, a small group of ASU fans taunted the UA great about the 1984 terrorist killing of his father, Malcolm, in Beirut, Lebanon.