jill torrance / arizona daily star

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RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

Arizona led by 17 with nine minutes left Saturday, a blowout in the making, when Chase Budinger came off a few screens and buried a three-pointer from the left corner.

On the next possession, Budinger drilled another three. On the possession after that, he faked from the corner, drove the baseline and laid the ball in.

"I remember after those three possessions, I was extremely dead tired," Budinger said. "I was running off the screens, trying to get open. After that drive, I came down, and I was like, 'I need a break.'

"When you're feeling it, you're feeling it."

That was an understatement. Budinger made 8 of 15 shots and half his 10 three-point attempts to score 25 points in 35 minutes.

While he likely won't be named Pac-10 Player of the Week — that should go to teammate Jerryd Bayless — you can bet the sophomore wing player is the most improved.

Last week, an under-the-weather Budinger was struggling from the field against Cal — making 6 of 14 shots — when interim head coach Kevin O'Neill drew up a play for him with 1:31 left and the game tied. Budinger buried it; after Cal matched with a tip-in, Budinger made two free throws to give the UA the lead for good.

Until making the jumper, Budinger had made 11 of 32 shots combined against Stanford and Cal for 30 points.

Since then, he's scored 51 points on 15-of-27 shooting.

"I'm just trying to be aggressive out there, just trying to attack the basket," Budinger said. "When I have an open basket, take it. Everything feels good right now. I'm healthy. I'm shooting the ball well right now. It feels good. Just keep it up."

O'Neill said Budinger has improved for two reasons — his long-term conditioning is getting better, and he is growing more mature.

"If you think about it, last year there were a lot of really good players here and a lot of them were older than him," O'Neill said. "He just kind of played along last year.

"I think he's starting to understand and grasp how important it is for him to play in a more assertive role, because he's one of the guys we're looking to and going to all the time. I really like the way he's been playing."

Jawann McClellan was hit above his right eye while taking a charge late in the first half. He was taken to the locker room and given five stitches, but still played 37 minutes.

The senior guard finished with seven points after scoring 14 Thursday night. He credited a midweek phone conversation with coach Lute Olson.

"I talked to Coach O before the (Washington State) game," he said. "He just told me to shoot, that you've got to shoot your way out of it."

After the game, McClellan spent about 10 seconds doing a salsa dance in front of the UA bench.

"Just happy we got the win," he said, then smiled.

● Center Kirk Walters started for the fourth time this year to help the UA match up with UW forwards Jon Brockman and Artem Wallace.

Brockman picked up two fouls in the first 4:27 and sat most of the first half. He finished with 24 points, but eight came with his team down 20 points or more.

"If you can get them into foul trouble it's going to help you out," Walters said. "It's not a specific thing that we decided we were going to do. But you want to attack your opponent."

● O'Neill said he is "under the understanding" that forward Bret Brielmaier, who has missed the past three games with a sprained right shoulder, will try to play this week. Jordan Hill, who played 38 minutes Saturday, had his shoulder examined after the game.

"It's nothing like Bret's," O'Neill said.

● Guard Nic Wise scored five points in the final minute of the first half to bail out a UA lineup featuring Zane Johnson, Jamelle Horne, Daniel Dillon and Walters.

"Nic did some great things at the end of the first half that gave us a little bit of momentum," O'Neill said. "We had a couple stops with kind of an unlikely lineup out there."