jeffry scott / arizona daily star

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It's all about the road trips now for the Arizona Wildcats, and maybe that's a good thing.

At Oregon next week, in the Pac-10 tournament the week after and, if they make it, in the NCAA tournament later this month, the Wildcats will be alone to simply play basketball with a healthy roster and avoid the bizarre cloud that has hovered over McKale Center since November.

With absentee coach Lute Olson showing up for the post-game senior day ceremonies and his estranged wife sitting courtside for the game, and with continued speculation about Olson's relationship with Kevin O'Neill, the Wildcats played with spirit but ultimately lost their home finale for the third straight season, 68-66 to UCLA on Sunday at McKale Center.

So now, with a home record of just 4-5 in conference games, the UA will have to sweep this week's trip to Oregon State and Oregon in order to break even in conference play and secure an NCAA tournament berth.

Failing that, the UA may need to win a game or two in Los Angeles during the Pac-10 tournament to seal up a 24th straight NCAA tournament invitation, since their Sunday loss left them with only 16 Division I victories and a 7-9 record in Pac-10 play.

"We're just gonna let our playing do the talking," UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill said. "That's all we can do, really. We had a tough, one-point loss to Stanford here, and a tough two-point loss to UCLA. They're both very, very good basketball teams.

"But it's our job now to win at Oregon State and try to win at Oregon and play the Pac-10 tournament, then see what the selection committee says about our team at the end of the year."

What they might say now: Inside the bubble, barely. Arizona is 5-7 against teams with an RPI of 1-50, is 2-4 against teams ranked in the top 10, but has the No. 1 strength of schedule and is 3-8 when either starter Nic Wise or leading scorer Jerryd Bayless has been missing.

The injury equation could change this week, now that Wise says he intends to return after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus Feb. 6. Wise has already returned to practices.

"I'm feeling a lot better," Wise said.

Forward Bret Brielmaier said he, too, is planning to play this week, although O'Neill said it was not yet certain about either player.

"I've been told it's a possibility, depending on how his rehab goes this week," O'Neill said of Wise. "The one thing I want to be cautious about is there's a thin line being aggressive to get someone back, and being foolish and injuring him further. I still think it looks like Pac-10 (tournament) to me."

As much as Wise and Brielmaier have been missed, it might be worth noting that both were available on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles, when the Bruins smoked the Wildcats by 22. That game was essentially over before halftime.

But even though Sunday's game initially looked to be a repeat, with UCLA taking an early 11-4 lead and a 13-point lead later in the first half, the Wildcats managed to make a close game of it.

Arizona trailed only 41-39 at halftime, took a four-point lead early in the second half, and had two chances to tie or win the game in the final seconds.

UCLA never led by more than six points in the second half, and after Kevin Love threw the ball away under pressure, Bayless drove inside for a layup to make it 67-65 with 50 seconds left. Russell Westbrook later made the second of two free throws to put UCLA up 68-65 with 14 seconds before the UA ran its final plays.

With 14 seconds left, Bayless drove inside and picked up a foul. He missed the second of two free throws, but Love tipped it out of bounds, giving the UA a final chance to tie or win the game with 5.7 seconds left.

Kirk Walters wound up with the ball about 12 feet away from the basket, but passed backward to Bayless, who ran around the wing and threw up a contested jumper that didn't make it as time neared expiration.

"I was just trying to get it to Jerryd and to get a little separation for him," Walters said.

Still, O'Neill said Walters had an open shot he could have taken.

"Kirk could have shot it, and I think if he had thrown it to Jerryd in the corner, he was wide open," O'Neill said. "UCLA is quick defensively and they did a good job of recovering to Jerryd and forcing him to take a tough shot."

O'Neill said the players did a good job of recovering and trying to run some semblance of a play, since the Wildcats did not have a timeout left to set one up. He also credited their overall effort.

"I thought our team played extremely hard and well," O'Neill said.

After the game, the senior Wildcats then received thanks from Olson, who made his first public appearance at McKale since the Oct. 30 Red-Blue game. Olson, who was unavailable for comment Sunday, announced Nov. 4 that he was taking an unexplained leave of absence. A month later he opted to sit out the whole season and file for divorce from his second wife, Christine.

For a moment, they were all in the same vicinity: the players, Olson, his wife, O'Neill, the fans, all celebrating the careers of the Wildcats' seniors. How real it was remained unclear: There was yet another suggestion, on CBS, of a rift between Olson and O'Neill, which O'Neill denied after the game.

"I'm comfortable with my relationship with Lute," O'Neill said. "I think there will probably be a lot of speculation around our situation as we go into March here. Everybody's going to be wondering what's going on? Is coach coming back? Isn't he coming back? All those things."