Nic Wise added another image to his memorable Arizona basketball career last weekend, and it had nothing to do with what he did on the court.
After MoMo Jones raced down for a buzzer-beating bank shot to beat Stanford on Saturday at Maples Pavilion, a grinning Wise raced off the bench and jumped into the celebratory pile on his freshmen teammates.
It was the first time this season Wise had not been on the court during a final critical moment - having beaten Lipscomb, North Carolina State and California all with late heroics - yet Wise's body language showed not a hint of self-pity.
"It was a great feeling," Wise said. "MoMo stepped up big for us. I didn't play well. I didn't have one of my best games and MoMo had one of his best games. That's kind of what happened. It was a great feeling for me and the team when he hit that shot. It's all about team, and we just want to win any way we can."
People are also reading…
All about team. With Wise, there's evidence that it's more than just words.
Here's a guy who committed firmly to Arizona at age 15, kept his head up while languishing behind Mustafa Shakur as a freshman in 2006-07, played through pain for interim coaches Kevin O'Neill and Russ Pennell the previous two seasons, then served this season as what UA coach Sean Miller calls a "bridge" between coaching eras.
A bridge that lifted the Wildcats over a potholed, curvy road filled with the distractions of having four coaches in four seasons.
"I think the world of Nic," said Miller, adding that he wouldn't have stuck around for four different coaches. "He has a great attitude, loves the game and loves Arizona. If he didn't, he certainly wouldn't have endured the numerous changes that he's experienced. He's our heart and soul."
In good and bad times, that is. While the Wildcats were lifted by Wise so many times early this season, they have been pulled down when he hasn't been at his best in the past month.
They need him. They live and die with him.
"I think you see the meaning he has for this year's team," Miller said. "When he doesn't play well, it's hard on our team. I can't help but think we've worn him out a little bit with all of the things we've asked him to do from Day 1."
Wise, who is scheduled to graduate in May, discussed last week what he's done and where he hopes to go from here following his final regular-season games at McKale Center this weekend:
Q: Has your role been a burden?
A: At times, I felt I had to do more this year than in the past years especially with a new team, new coaching staff and a lot of young guys, more than we've ever had in the past. It's physical and mental.
Q: Has carrying the load helped you experience-wise?
A: I think it has. I've seen much different (coaching) perspectives. I do want to be a coach when I'm done so this helps me out.
Q: Was there anything Sean Miller did that you may use as a coach someday?
A: I think just never changing anything through the whole season. He said that from the beginning that his whole system would not change so guys could get more comfortable with it. I think it will benefit the team next year, to have this year to develop and learn the system, then the five freshmen will be sophomores next year and they'll have it down pat.
Q: Do you feel good about the future of the program?
A: They've been doing a good job recruiting, so within a couple of years they'll be back to where we were.
Q: Is being a "bridge," a point of pride for you?
A: It is. Being that bridge was one of the reasons Coach wanted me to come back, to help the young guys prepare for another new era. So that was one of the reasons I did decide to come back.
Q: How close did you come to leaving (for overseas pro ball) last spring? Once Miller came in, did you have a feeling you'd come back?
A: It was pretty close. If we didn't get the five recruits that we did, I probably wouldn't have come back. Even though coach Miller is a good coach, that would have been a real tough season without those guys.
Q: Looking back, what memories are at the top of your list?
A: Just the fact that we made the (NCAA) tournament the past three years with all the turmoil that we've had, and all the doubters.
Q: Will it be disappointing if you don't make it this year?
A: It'll be tough, but we knew coming into the season that it would be a mountain to climb for us. We'd have to have a really good, almost perfect season, to do that. It's tough when you start off in Maui with a young team, new coaches and everything is new, and we played a top-five schedule before the Pac-10. So our season has had a lot of wear and tear on our team.
Q: You've had issues with your knees and a number of areas this year again. Has it been any worse physically, or the same?
A: I've been more physically beat up this year than any year because in the past I was able to get time off from practice when I did get hurt. But this year with such a young team there's no way Coach is able to give me time off to recuperate from injury or else it hurts our team.
Q: Miller said (after UA's loss to Cal last week) that he's got to be careful with you, that you don't seem to have the same spark. Do you feel that way?
A: We talked about it. He knows that practices have become shorter and so it's not a lot of wear and tear late in the season. He wants us to have more energy for the game, rather than using all that energy in practice. It's just been a long season, lot of wear and tear and not being able to rest.
Q: What kind of goals do you have going forward?
A: I want to play until I can't anymore, then get into a coaching career. … College, or an assistant in the NBA, or something like that.
Q: Are you aiming to get into an NBA camp or go overseas?
A: I'm just going to do Portsmouth (a seniors-only NBA pre-draft camp in Virginia) and work out this summer for teams, and if it looks more promising overseas, then I'll do that.
Q: Do you think you can show something else in NBA team workouts?
A: I think so. In workouts, it's more one-on-one stuff. That's more my game. In the system we have, coach Miller is more teamwork and there's not a lot of one-and-one going on.
Q: You've been a Wildcat, so to speak, for seven years now. Have you grown to like UA and Tucson?
A: I do. You see a lot of the guys (ex-Wildcats) come back. There's just a lot of love and fan support here.
TODAY
• Who: UCLA at Arizona
• When: 8:30 p.m.
• TV: FSAZ
• Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM, 990-AM (Spanish)
NIC WISE, Point gUARd
The vital statistics and a year-by-year statistical progression during the Arizona senior's memorable career:
Bio
22
Age
5-10
Height
180
Weight
Sociology
Major
Points per game
1.9
Freshman
9.2
Sophomore
15.7
Junior
14.4
Senior
Assists per game
0.5
Freshman
4.4
Sophomore
4.6
Junior
3.3
Senior
Nic Wise timeline
• April 2003: Wise commits to Arizona over Texas as a 15-year-old high school freshman phenom.
• Dec. 2004: Selected USA Today's high school player of the week after being named MVP of two tournaments for Kingwood High School.
• March 2005: Chosen MVP of the Texas 5A championship after leading Kingwood to the state title.
• Nov. 2005: Signs binding letter of intent to play for Arizona along with fellow high school seniors Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill.
• March 2006: Fires three-pointer at the buzzer that would beat Plano in the 5A title game - but the shot rims out. Wise still finishes his high school career with most wins (131) of any player in Texas 5A history.
• Sept. 2006: Misses a team bus to one game, but averages 10 points and two assists in UA's four other British Columbia exhibitions.
NIC WISE TIMELINE CONT'D
• Nov. 2006: Plays 15 minutes in season opener at Virginia, passing to J.P. Prince for an ill-fated buzzer-beater in UA's 93-90 loss, but goes on to average just 8.1 minutes with nine DNPs as a freshman (including two January games he was forced to sit out for reasons he and coach Lute Olson would not disclose).
• March 2007: Has five points and a steal in 16 minutes in UA's 85-80 overtime win at Stanford to end the regular season, the last game the Wildcats won under Olson.
• Oct. 2007: Reports to practices 20 pounds lighter on his 5-foot-9-inch frame, which carried about 200 as a freshman.
• Dec. 2007: With Jerryd Bayless nursing a knee injury, makes his first career start and plays 40 minutes in UA's 76-63 loss at Memphis. He goes on to start 10 more games the rest of his sophomore season despite losing seven games to injury.
• Feb. 2008: Has arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, costing him four weeks. UA goes 2-5 without him.
• March 2008: Plays 34 minutes in UA's 81-45 win at Oregon State after his seven-game layoff. Has eight assists in 40 minutes two days later at Oregon.
• April 2008: Considers transferring in the wake of Lute Olson's return and interim head coach Kevin O'Neill's ouster. "What Nic needed was to make sure what happened this year wouldn't happen again," said Greg Wise, Nic's father.
• May 2008: Announces he will stay at Arizona after multiple meetings with Olson. "This is where I want to be," Wise said. "I trust coach Olson."
• Oct. 2008: Declines to comment on Olson's sudden resignation, other than to say "I just know he's done."
• Nov. 2008: Has 18 assists and 33 points over UA's first two Preseason NIT games after missing time with a gash over his eye and knee injury in practices. But his late drive to the basket with the second game tied against UAB does not go in, and Jamelle Horne's foul allows the Blazers to hit a winning free throw.
• Dec. 2008: Wildcats blow a nine-point lead and lose at Texas A&M after Wise fouls out with 7:33 to go.
• Feb. 2009: Named Pac-10 player of the week after averaging 26.5 points and 2.0 assists in wins over UCLA and USC.
• March 2009: Scores 21 points in the second half, en route to 29 points, in first-round NCAA tournament win over Utah.
• April 2009: Enters name in NBA draft pool.
• June 2009: Withdraws from NBA draft pool, attends USA World University Games tryouts but does not make team.
• Nov. 2009: Has career-high 30 points and six assists in UA's lone Maui Invitational win, over Colorado.
• Dec. 2009: Makes back-to-back game-winners in the final second - a three-pointer against Lipscomb and a layup against North Carolina State.
• Jan. 2010: Singlehandedly outscores Cal 7-3 in final 53 seconds to lead UA to upset of eventual Pac-10 champs, finishing with 30 points.
• Feb. 2010: Averages 9.9 points during a month in which UA goes 2-5.
