Konner Wade provided his longest outing of the season. 2012 photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Arizona Wildcats pitcher Konner Wade had been sick for a couple of days, saying he felt “kind of dead” in terms of energy.

It didn’t show Friday night. His marathon 126 pitches against USC helped UA stay kind of alive in the chase for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Andy Lopez pushed Wade for 9 1/3 innings before turning to closer Mathew Troupe, who got two outs with one pitch and picked up the victory when Zach Gibbons singled home Kevin Newman from second base with one out in the bottom of the 10th.

Arizona won 4-3 to improve to 32-21 overall and 13-15 in the Pac-12.

With victories Saturday night (6 p.m. start at Hi Corbett) and Sunday (noon), the defending national champion Wildcats can at least make something of a case to be included in the postseason field.

“They’ll sleep better tonight,” Lopez said of his team, “then we have to come back tomorrow and play good baseball again.”

On Friday night, Wade wasn’t dominant like he was in the 2012 postseason, but it was one of the junior’s best starts of the season. He scuffled through the first inning — going 3-0 to the first hitter, hitting a batter and unleashing a wild pitch — but settled in after that.

Wade allowed 11 hits, but didn’t walk any Trojans while striking out one.

“He just had better location,” Lopez said.

“It’s not brain surgery. If you want the ball on the outer half, you have to get the ball on the outer half. If you want the ball on the inner half, you have to get the ball on the inner half. If you do that, you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting outs.”

Arizona’s defense was pretty good, too.

Troupe, who entered the game with a runner on first and one out, needed only one pitch in the 10th. Adam Landecker hit a shallow fly to right toward the line, and Scott Kingery charged in to make a diving catch and double up the runner at first.

Kingery also was involved in a heads-up play in the ninth. Timmy Robinson blooped a single past diving first baseman Joseph Maggi in the hole, and then took a huge turn at first base. Kingery got the ball and fired to Wade, who had slipped behind the runner and was covering first base.

That provided the extremely rare 9-1 putout in the scorebook.

“I don’t think I have ever seen that play,” Wade said. “That was heads-up by Kingery. That guy was way off (the base). Luckily, I was over there covering the bag.”

Kingery was one of three freshmen who had a huge hand in the victory.

Freshman shortstop Kevin Newman reached base to start the 10th on a hit by pitch. Riley Moore’s sac bunt moved Newman to second before freshman left fielder Zach Gibbons singled to center, his fourth hit of the game. Newman slid into home just in front of the tag.

Out of habit, Lopez mistakenly referred to Gibbons as “Gibson” in his postgame interview.

“I’ve been calling him Gibson for the last two weeks, just messing around with him, telling him, ‘See, that’s how poor you are, I don’t even know your name,’” Lopez said.

In the fifth inning, Newman gave Arizona a 2-1 lead with a two-run single to left after USC starter Bob Wheatley intentionally walked Brandon Dixon to load the bases with two outs. Dixon entered the game as the Pac-12′s leading hitter with a .370 average.

“I bet they regret it now,” Newman said of walking Dixon.

“But Dixon is obviously a phenomenal hitter. From their perspective, it was probably the right thing to do. From our side, it was a game-changer and it worked out for us.”

Now, Arizona will turn to junior right-hander James Farris (4-5) to keep the momentum going Saturday night and continue whatever heartbeat the Wildcats have for the postseason.

“Momentum is who shows up on the mound tomorrow,” Lopez said. “That’s baseball.”

Jonathan Haden, a running back who attends school in Washington, D.C., and whose three older brothers all played college football, committed to the Arizona Wildcats on Friday night, according to reports.

WildcatAuthority.com was the first to mention that Haden committed to UA.

Haden, a three-star Rivals.com recruit from Friendship Collegiate Academy, held numerous BCS scholarship offers, including Ohio State, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina State.

Haden’s brother, Joe Haden, was an All-American cornerback at Florida and the seventh pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Josh Haden was a running back at Boston College and Toledo. Cornerback Jordan Haden signed with Florida but also ended up at Toledo.

Jonathan Haden (5-8, 180) has played one season at Friendship Collegiate Academy, transferring from Archbishop Carroll in D.C., where he rushed for 977 yards on 115 carries as a sophomore.

The Wildcats have four commitments in the 2014 class: Wide receiver Cameron Denson (a four-star recruit from Salpointe Catholic), two-star tight end Nick Nataro from Estero, Fla., and four-star running back Nick Wilson from Fresno, Calif.

Edison-Friendship (Washington, D.C.) running back Jonathan Haden has committed to the University of #Arizona.

— Cody James Martin (@CodyJamesMartin) May 25, 2013

We were excited about moving the UNLV game to PHX & wish it could have happened for our team & fans. We do understand UNLV’s position.

— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) May 24, 2013

UNLV coach Bobby Hauck has won only six games in three seasons. Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

There are worse things than fans getting to make a trip to Las Vegas to watch an Arizona football game.

UA and UNLV had been working on a plan to move the Sept. 7 matchup from the Rebels’ Sam Boyd Stadium to Glendale, Ariz., but those negotiations have fallen through.

Moving the game to University of Phoenix Stadium — home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals — had the potential to benefit UNLV financially, while helping to continue UA athletic director Greg Byrne’s marketing push into the Phoenix area.

UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood wrote in a statement released Friday afternoon:

“We were approached by a promoter to move our September 7 home football game against Arizona to Glendale’s University of Phoenix Stadium but we’ve decided to keep the game in Las Vegas.

“We went through the process with the University of Arizona, Russ Potts Productions and Global Spectrum (which manages the stadium) and everyone was great in trying to make this thing work.

“We just couldn’t get the numbers to match up and in the end everyone agreed it would be best to keep the game here. We are excited to have seven home games this fall and that the Rebels will be opening up at Sam Boyd Stadium against a Pac-12 opponent.”

Arizona opens the season Friday, August 30, against lower-division NAU before playing at UNLV. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network.

The Wildcats conclude their non-conference season at home vs. Texas-San Antonio on Sept. 14.

This is one of Arizona’s easiest non-conference schedules in recent memory, rivaled only by 2008 — Idaho, Toledo and New Mexico. Of course, a 4-8 Lobos team beat the Wildcats in Albuquerque, so you never know.

The Rebels last had a winning season in 2000, going 8-5 in coach John Robinson’s second year. Get this: In seven of the past nine seasons, UNLV has had exactly two victories, including a 2-11 mark in 2012.

Let’s take a closer look at the 2013 Rebels:

COACH: Bobby Hauck is 6-32 in three seasons and should be on everyone’s “coaching hot seat” list.

RETURNING STARTERS: 19

OFFENSE: UNLV averaged only 367.9 yards and 22.0 points last season but have some dangerous skill position players. Sophomore quarterback Nick Sherry, who originally committed to Colorado, is a big (6-5, 235) drop-back passer who was on his way to a nice freshman season before injuries took their toll late in the season. He finished with 2,544 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. UNLV, under new coordinator Timm Rosenbach, is switching to the pistol formation this season, which should make good use of Tim Cornett, who rushed for 1,232 yards and seven touchdowns last year.

DEFENSE: The Rebels are hoping a quartet of junior college transfer defensive linemen can help cure a defense that allowed 445.2 yards and 32.6 points per game last season. Among the potential standouts are sophomore end Sonny Sanitoa (five sacks last season) and sophomore safety Peni Vea (52 tackles in 2012). UNLV has a new coordinator here, too, as Bobby Hauck brought in his younger brother, Tim Hauck, to run the defense and put in a more aggressive approach. Tim Hauck coached the Cleveland Browns secondary last season. Tim Hauck

Larry Ray. Photo courtesy Nicholls State.

Larry Ray, following his departure from the Arizona Wildcats softball coaching staff last summer, found a full-time job this spring.

One problem.

“My base salary was zero,” he said.

Ray spent last season as an unpaid assistant at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La., working for a good friend, head coach Angel Santiago.

“It was an experience living down in Louisiana, a tremendous weather change and culture change,” Ray said. “Being away from my family wasn’t a lot of fun.”

Ray, 62, has returned to Tucson and his family, and he still has the coaching itch, eagerly looking for (paying) work.

His time at Arizona ended last year after he faced a domestic violence charge, forcing him to miss the last three weeks of the season. The UA announced his resignation in June. The charge was dismissed in November, but that came too late for Ray to find something of a permanent job for the 2013 season.

Ray spent 21 seasons in two stints at Arizona as an assistant coach at Arizona, twice serving as interim head coach when Mike Candrea was coaching the U.S. Olympic team. In between his two tours with the Wildcats, Ray was the first head coach in Florida history, going 169-106 in four seasons.

“I told Mike a couple of years ago that I wanted to work until I was 65,” Ray said.

“Like him, I will go as long as I’m healthy and I’m enjoying it. I’m both of those. I don’t really want to set a time when I’m going to retire. I would like to stay in it.”

Ray, who arrived with Candrea at Arizona in 1986, has long been noted as one of the top teachers of slap-hitting in the game.

When Caitlin Lowe — who would become an Arizona All-American and U.S. Olympian — was on an unofficial recruiting trip to UA, Ray asked, “Who taught you how to slap hit?”

“You did,” she replied. “I watched your tape.”

Lowe’s early development was aided by Ray’s “Teaching the Slappers” instructional video he produced in the early 1990s.

Ray said he followed the Wildcats as much as he could this season, when Arizona struggled to a 33-26 record, eliminated in the NCAA regional in College Station, Texas.

The Cats have failed to reach the Women’s College World Series in each of the past three seasons, a startling decline for a program that won eight national titles from 1991 to 2007. Arizona’s pitching hasn’t worked out as planned for several years and there has been a decrease in elite talent, which, Ray acknowledges, can be traced to when Candrea was coaching the U.S. team in 2008 and not available for recruiting.

“I feel responsible for where they are right now,” Ray said. “I was one of the major recruiters on a lot of those kids who are in the program right now. … Arizona softball has a special place in my heart and I want to see them continue to be successful.

“And they will be. Mike will get them back on track.”

Ray is hoping to get back on track, too. With a championship pedigree, he’s still in demand for camps and clinics, and he’ll be working events in San Antonio, Chicago and Atlanta this summer.

Andy Lopez’s team is coming off a series win at Arizona State. Photo by Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY SPORTS

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team might need to win all three games this weekend. Almost certainly, two. For sure, the one on Friday.

“We plan on sweeping USC,” said first baseman Joseph Maggi, “but you can only do that when you take it one game at a time.”

Ah, yes, that familiar sports line applies more than ever as Arizona is perched somewhere on the wrong side of the NCAA postseason bubble heading into the regular-season-ending three-game set vs. the Trojans.

Arizona, the defending national champion, is 31-21 overall and 12-15, seventh in the Pac-12. They have work to do. Win one, then two, then three.

The Cats are close enough to be in the discussion for an at-large berth to the postseason. And their task is to give the selection committee something to chew on before the field is announced Monday morning.

Looking at the numbers, a series sweep is what they need.

Arizona is 58th in the RPI. The Cats are only 3-11 against Top 50 teams, swept by Oregon and Oregon State and 3-2 vs. ASU. They have a tenuous argument to be included in the field.

Coach Andy Lopez isn’t a number-cruncher. “I try to keep it simple,” he said. Besides, he has a “gentleman” he said he talked to Thursday, so maybe he knows more about this selection process than the rest of us.

“I’d be comfortable with (winning) two out of three,” Lopez said of what it will take this weekend. “I don’t know if the committee will.”

He said a series victory would “put us in a pretty good spot.” But who knows?

Arizona and USC (20-33, 10-17) will play Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. at Hi Corbett. The series finale will be Sunday at noon.

A sweep to get to .500 in league play would look good, especially because the Pac-12 is one of the toughest conferences in the country. Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA and Arizona State are tournament locks.

Stanford (30-21, 14-13) is trying to squeeze in, too, but its RPI is at 74.

At least Arizona still has something to play for. This is a young team, and the pitching — expected to be the main strength — hasn’t always been there, but there is enough talent on the roster that you could see the Wildcats being able to make a run in the postseason.

If only they can get there.

Like last week, when Arizona took two out of three at Arizona State, the Cats sometimes pass the eye test.

“Based off of last weekend, yeah, we’re a tournament team,” Lopez said.

So the message to the team is this:

“Just because you haven’t done something great doesn’t mean you haven’t done something good,” Lopez said. “Don’t beat yourself up. Just finish strong.”

* * *

Here is a sampling of opinion on the NCAA Tournament, none of which have Arizona making the field at this point.

Aaron Fitt at Baseball America has Arizona and Stanford out, writing: “No change from last week. The Wildcats and Cardinal both won their weekend series — Arizona took two of three at Arizona State, while Stanford swept Cal. But in both cases, it’s too little, too late.”

Kendall Rogers at PerfectGame.org projects the field.

Jeremy Mills of ESPN.com doesn’t include the Wildcats among the “first nine out.”

Brian Foles of CollegeBaseballDaily.com makes his 64 selections.

Craig Amick of ChasingOmaha.com puts Arizona among the “first four out.”

Sean Miller says the non-conference schedule can prepare his team for March. Photo by Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats announced on Thursday its non-conference basketball schedule for next season, featuring two challenging road games and potential marquee matchups in Madison Square Garden.

Duke, anyone?

After opening the season at home against Cal Poly and Long Beach State, the Wildcats play at always-tough San Diego State, which loses its top two scorers but has ample talent back from a 23-11 NCAA Tournament team. The Aztecs were 14-1 at home last season.

The rest of November is spent participating in the NIT Season Tip-Off, leading to the semifinals in New York City. The four headliners for the NIT event are Arizona, Duke, Alabama and Rutgers.

The Dec. 7 game against UNLV stands as the most intriguing home game of the non-conference schedule, with Arizona heading to Michigan a week later.

The Wolverines, coming off an appearance in the national title game and No. 10 in ESPN.com’s latest pre-preseason Top 25, will feature a pair of super sophomores — wing Glenn Robinson III and center Mitch McGary. (McGary vs. Kaleb Tarczewski … yes, please.)

Arizona is fourth in that ESPN.com ranking and likely will be in everyone’s preseason Top 10.

All in all, this is a challenging schedule with a good mix of teams, and one that should provided a few thrills before Arizona enters Pac-12 play as the presumptive favorite.

“We are excited about our 2013-14 non-conference schedule,” coach Sean Miller said in a statement.

“It provides our team with numerous opportunities at McKale Center, away from home, and in the NIT Season Tip-Off that will prepare us for conference play. Additionally, this type of schedule is built to provide us the quality needed in the month of March for our postseason aspirations to be realized.”

Save the dates: Here is Arizona’s non-conference schedule:

# Exhibition
* NIT Season Tip-Off, games in Tucson, Ariz. (dates to be determined)
^ NIT Season Tip-Off finals in New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)

So, look for further updates of the upper floors — coaches offices, meeting rooms, players’ lounge, cafeteria and the Sands Level on the fifth floor, providing access to the new club boxes.

The Wildcats are targeting a July 1 move-in date to their new digs.

Grant Jerrett dunks for two points vs. Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament. Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA draft lottery was held Tuesday night, spawning a fresh round of mock drafts.

Arizona wing Solomon Hill and power forward Grant Jerrett just got done participating in last week’s NBA Draft combine, so scouts and media were able to get a good look at each and further evaluate their skills.

Hill, all along, has been considered second-round material, and the new mock drafts reflect a holding pattern.

Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com moved Hill up four spots to No. 52, going to Minnesota. Wrote Goodman: “Big-time athlete who could become a defensive stopper. Has really improved his perimeter shot.”

DraftExpress.com pegs Hill at No. 56 to Detroit.

It’s with Jerrett that things are more up in the air. His curious decision to leave after his freshman season had some wondering if he would be drafted at all.

“Initially, I was surprised,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said of Jarrett’s decision to leave.

“But that’s all part of it when you recruit a very talented young player. … I think from Grant’s perspective, he felt he was ready and he was willing to make that climb to become an NBA player. I have no doubt he has the talent to do it.

“Over the last month, I have received so many calls about him. My goal now is to help him become the highest pick he can possibly become in the NBA Draft.”

Jerrett, as a 6-10 forward, has one marketable skill right now — his jump shooting and ability to stretch the floor on offense. He will need time to develop strength and moves closer to the basket against NBA big men.

With more time at Arizona, it would be easy to see Jerrett not only being a first-rounder, but a potential lottery pick.

“The one thing Grant has to his advantage is he has a true position in the NBA,” Miller said.

“He can play the 4. He’s very skilled. He’s long. He’s not a small guy at all. His best basketball is ahead of him, for sure.”

There’s too much raw skill there for Jerrett to slide all the way out of the draft. As for the most recent projections, Goodman has Jerrett at No. 44 overall, while DratfExpress.com puts him at No. 58 — just two spots away from the last pick.

UPDATE (Thursday morning): DraftExpress.com has updated its mock draft, sliding Hill to No. 57 and Jerrett to No. 59.

Brandon Ashley might be wearing a different uniform this summer. Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats will be well-represented at the USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Championship team training camp next month.

The roster for the camp was announced Tuesday morning, with sophomore forward Brandon Ashley and a pair of incoming freshmen — forwards Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson – among the 24 players invited to tryout June 14-19 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The 12-man roster, which will be coached by Florida’s Billy Donovan, will be announced June 18.

The team will go on to represent the United States at the U19 World Championship in Prague, Czech Republic, from June 27-July 7.

Gordon and Hollis-Jefferson have U.S. team experience. Gordon played on the 2011 U16 FIBA Americas gold-medal-winning team. Earlier this spring, he and Hollis-Jefferson were part of the Junior National Select Team that participated in the Nike Hoop Summit. Hollis-Jefferson also was a member of the 2012 U17 World Championship team, but did not play because of injury.

Ashley averaged 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season, when he started 21 of 35 games for Arizona.

Here are the 24 players invited to the U19 camp:

* indicates the university at which the student-athlete will compete in 2013-14.
^ indicates the university to which the student-athlete has transferred.

Coaches
Head Coach: Billy Donovan (University of Florida)
Assistant Coach: Tony Bennett (University of Virginia)
Assistant Coach: Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Court Coach: Ed Cooley (Providence College)
Court Coach: Tim Ryan (College of Central Florida)
Court Coach: Buzz Williams (Marquette University)

Daniel Jenkins looks for running room against Arizona State in November. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Running back Daniel Jenkins was asked to summarize his time at Washington State.

“Short,” he said.

Jenkins, who announced his transfer from Arizona after graduating last December, spent about a month in Pullman this spring, but was never part of the team. He didn’t sign scholarship papers. He didn’t participate in spring practice. He wasn’t enrolled in school.

“Just trained and worked out,” he said.

He said it was about the beginning of this month that he reached out to Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez about a possible return to the team. The coach announced Jenkins’ return last week, and the senior met with the media Monday.

“It was just a combination of events,” said Jenkins, who didn’t get very specific.

“My family. I had some things going on with them, and I had an opportunity to come back and finish my career at Arizona. I decided to come back.”

Jenkins, from Moreno Valley, Calif., said Washington State coach Mike Leach was “disappointed” when he told him that wouldn’t officially be joining the Cougars this summer, as planned.

“But I continued to let him know it was a personal decision,” Jenkins said. “I didn’t have any ill feeling toward them or anything like that.”

He left Arizona on good terms but was in search of a place where he could better showcase his talents for his final season. He returns on good terms as a potential leader, but the playing-time situation is the same. He’s still on the same depth chart as consensus All-American running back Ka’Deem Carey.

Rodriguez has at times called Carey and Jenkins co-starters, but the distribution of the carries says otherwise: Carey rushed 303 times for 1,929 yards last season; Jenkins ran 67 times for 293 yards.

Jenkins (5-9, 196) has shown flashes of being a very good Pac-12 running back; it’s just that he hasn’t had a very big window of opportunity at Arizona.

“I’m happy to compete,” Jenkins said.

“I’m a competitor. I’m looking forward to the challenge and doing some very big things within the offense and playing a very big role.”

The Wildcats don’t have a passer like Matt Scott anymore, so perhaps there will be more carries for the running backs. Other options include senior Kylan Butler, sophomore Jared Baker and incoming freshmen Pierre Cormier and Zach Green.

Jenkins, who earned his undergraduate degree in public policy and management in 3 1/2 years, will take graduate classes in the fall. He said he stayed in close contact with many teammates after he announced his transfer.

And now …

“It was like I never left,” he said.

“I’m happy to be back, and they were happy to have me.”