Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

UA recruiters look down the road Freshmen mean array of options Now that's a switch Like Fogg, Williams will come in unseen Cats gain one more of USC's recruits NY duo sure they can make it here It's not Rocket science: Chase faces challenge Hill goes No. 8 to Knicks Budinger traded to Houston RocketsHill chosen No. 8 overall by Knicks

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During his six years in the NBA, Kevin O'Neill found the aftermath of losses often pretty minimal for some people.

"Usually, the grieving period for an NBA player is about six beers," UA's interim head coach said. "For a lot of them; not all of them."

On Tuesday, O'Neill found out more than ever he does not have that problem with Jerryd Bayless, and not because Bayless is only 19.

Still stewing about the Wildcats' 56-52 loss at Stanford on Thursday, the freshman guard took much of the blame — not only for shooting poorly but for spreading his complaints about a pair of ill-fitting shoes that bothered him.

"A lot of that loss should be placed on my shoulders," Bayless said during UA's weekly news conference. "I took myself out of the game, and I started talking about it, and I started taking some of my teammates out of the game."

Having preached about work ethic and accountability all season, O'Neill's face lit up slightly when told what Bayless said.

"Did he do that?" O'Neill said. "Well, you know what? I love seeing players be accountable. Accountability is something everyone should take. If you coach a bad game, there's no harm in saying it. For him to take accountability says a lot about him, especially as a young guy."

Bayless made just 3 of 12 field goal attempts at Stanford, scoring nine points, with two assists and two turnovers. In the first half, when UA scored just 26 points, the Wildcats shot 32 percent from the field, with Bayless hitting 2 of 6 shots, Chase Budinger making 3 of 12 and Jawann McClellan going 0 for 5.

Was it contagious? Was it the shoes? Was it Brook Lopez swatting away shots inside?

Who knows?

"That first half at Stanford was really interesting," O'Neill said. "I've never been through anything like that. It seemed like everyone was thrown off completely. Maybe Jerryd has a point there."

Not only was Bayless upset that he had let the shoes affect his game, but he also indicated shame that he let down longtime mentor Frank Johnson, a former Suns assistant and head coach.

"I definitely got a phone call after that game letting me know about it," Bayless said. "He always tried to intimidate me mentally (during workouts). So I shouldn't let something like that get to me. I can't let that happen again."

Although O'Neill appeared slightly surprised to hear of Bayless' public comments, he knew all along that a storm was brewing inside the freshman from Phoenix. Over and over this season, O'Neill has spoken of Bayless' competitiveness and intensity, even once referring to him as a "bull in a china closet" when Bayless struggled with turnovers earlier this season because of his aggressiveness.

That passion, along with talent, is what separates Bayless from his peers, O'Neill indicated.

"Jerryd Bayless has a tremendous amount of confidence in his abilities, and he's tremendously disappointed when he doesn't play as well as he thinks he should play," O'Neill said. "It's hard to find players at any level that truly, truly care about winning. They all tell you that. But the bottom line is it's very, very difficult to find players that losing really hurts them.

"Jerryd's one of those guys that losing hurts him. It affects him mentally and makes it hard for him to live with until he gets out there again."

In other words, it's not the kind of problem Bayless will be easily solving at some hotel bar during an NBA road trip in the years to come.

● O'Neill continued to say Tuesday he is concerned about fatigue but is not sold on additionally resting guys such as Bayless, Budinger and McClellan, all of whom are averaging more than 37 minutes a game in Pac-10 play. "Our minutes played is based on the decision to keep our scoring on the floor most of the time than anything else," he said. "That's kind of the way it is, and it's probably going to be that way the whole way."

● Forward Bret Brielmaier did light shooting Tuesday and will attempt some contact work today, but it is unclear how much he might be able to play Thursday against Washington State with his sprained right shoulder.