Plenty of time: Several Wildcats received extended playing time Saturday at Cal, including Fendi Onobun (24) who logged 14 minutes, and starter Jawann McClellan with 37.

dean knuth / arizona daily star 2008

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By now, Chase Budinger has all but kicked his fatigue-inducing virus.

But the UA sophomore wing is now suffering from another ailment, one his coach admits to causing: Overuse.

Budinger played 34 minutes Saturday, after logging 37 on Thursday at Stanford, and struggled with his shooting in the second half after scoring 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting before halftime.

While Budinger blamed his slip on settling for three-point shots against Cal's zone defense instead of attacking the basket, UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill cited the fatigue of averaging 35 1/2 minutes for the two games in the Bay Area.

A week earlier, Budinger played all 45 minutes in an overtime game with ASU and 38 three days later at Houston. He is averaging 38.8 minutes in Pac-10 games and 34.9 overall.

"He had wide-open shots in the second half (Saturday) and it's on him to make them — and he will make them," O'Neill said. "As soon as he gets a little bit tired he doesn't shoot with quite the legs he had in the first half, and I played him 38 minutes again. The guy just played, what, 78 minutes (actually 71) in two games? That's who we are."

Budinger isn't the only Wildcat being relied on heavily. Jerryd Bayless, Jawann McClellan and Jordan Hill all logged at least 37 minutes Saturday while Bayless had 38 and Nic Wise played 39 on Thursday.

"Let's face it: I'm playing those guys too many minutes," O'Neill said. "That's why they get a little bit tired in the second half."

The alternative is going deeper into a bench that drops off in talent, an equation O'Neill has been evaluating.

"What am I gonna do?" O'Neill said.

O'Neill did play reserves more than normal Saturday. With Bret Brielmaier unavailable, O'Neill gave 14 minutes to Fendi Onobun and 17 plus a start to Jamelle Horne, who hadn't played at all in the Wildcats' previous three games.

However, O'Neill used Kirk Walters for just two minutes and only inserted wing Zane Johnson for a minute late in the first half when Wise took a hard fall. Guard Daniel Dillon did not play at all.

O'Neill vowed that the kind of problem Bayless had with his shoes Thursday at Stanford would never happen again. Bayless went through three pairs at Stanford, including one that the Cardinal gave him.

"We've never had a shoe bag, which I cannot believe," O'Neill said. "We will have a shoe bag (for road trips) with pairs of shoes in there that you can't even count. I promise you."

Part of the problem may have been Bayless' blind faith in some new shoes. Bayless slipped them on before Thursday's game and could not get comfortable, winding up with just nine points on 3-for-12 shooting.

"He put on a brand new pair of shoes that had never been worn, and they hurt his feet and threw him off completely," O'Neill said. "Anybody who plays in a brand new pair of shoes is out of their mind.

"He said his shoe was broken, like it was a flat tire. He was 3 for 12 and he might have given Chase his shoes, because (Budinger) was 5 for 18."

The Wildcats were fortunate that Wise was able to return with 10:32 left in the game Saturday after he was hit in the head by a knee as he fell during the final minute of the first half.

Upon his return, Wise scored 11 points and had two steals, including one from Cal's Eric Vierneisel with 18 seconds left and the UA leading by four.

"They thought it might be a concussion problem, but our doctors looked at him and OK'd him," O'Neill said. "Good thing he played or we wouldn't have won the game. We would have had no chance to win the game."

O'Neill said Sunday that Wise felt fine for the team's return home to Tucson.

● Fifteen of the UA's 25 field goals came off assists Saturday, after the Wildcats had just eight assists on 21 baskets at Stanford. Both O'Neill and McClellan said the statistic was critical to the victory. "Everybody was making the extra pass," McClellan said. "It turned out that our leading scorers got their points but nobody cared about who got the points. That's what we've got to get back to."

● Brielmaier said he is resigned to having to sit out an occasional game the remainder of the season to rest his sprained shoulder. "It all depends what it feels like," Brielmaier said, adding that he expected to play Thursday against Washington State.