On Super Sunday, the only game University of Hawai'i men's basketball coach Riley Wallace wanted to watch was from Saturday.

After reviewing replays yesterday of Nevada's controversial 69-68 victory over the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday at Reno, Nev., Wallace concluded that two potential winning baskets in the final 5.8 seconds should have counted for Hawai'i.

"I don't want to say they were bad calls, but I think they weren't the right calls," Wallace said of the two discounted baskets in the closing seconds of the game.

However, Wallace said he does not plan to file any official protest with the Western Athletic Conference. He said he will discuss the game with the commissioner of WAC officials.

"It's over," he said. "There's nothing you can do now to change it. But after watching it again, it's tough to take."

On the first controversial call, Hawai'i center Ahmet Gueye got fouled and made a basket that would have put the 'Bows ahead, 70-69. The original call was that Gueye was fouled in the act of shooting, so the basket counted.

But after a lengthy discussion by the referees, it was ruled that Gueye was fouled before attempting the shot, so the basket was disallowed.

"If you watch when (the referees) make the call, Ahmet is already shooting the ball," Wallace said. "So it should have counted."

Instead, the 'Bows had to inbounds the ball for another attempt at a game-winning basket.

After misses by Matt Gibson and Gueye, a final putback attempt by P.J. Owsley came a fraction of a second too late. Or did it?

Upon further review, Wallace said he thinks Owsley's basket also should have counted.

"When the red light comes on, there's still 0.3 seconds on the clock," Wallace said. "And you're supposed to go by the clock and not the light."

Despite the loss, Wallace said last week's trip to Fresno, Calif., and Reno could be considered a success. Hawai'i defeated Fresno State, 54-42, on Thursday.

"I think we made a statement," Wallace said. "It's one of the toughest trips if you look at the history of the WAC. To give yourself a chance to win both of them, I'm very proud of my team."

Wallace said the goal of the team now is to gain momentum in the remaining seven regular-season games, and then make a successful run through the WAC Tournament.

Hawai'i is 13-10 overall, and in seventh place in the WAC at 4-6. However, the 'Bows are only 1 1/2 games away from being as high as third place (Utah State is currently in third at 5-4).

"We know we're not going to win the WAC (regular-season championship)," Wallace said. "But we want to get better every night and win that tournament ... our guys are starting to believe that now."

The WAC Tournament will be held March 6 to 10 at Las Cruces, N.M.

"Hawai'i has always played well in tournaments when we're on a neutral floor, or on a floor where everybody's playing with the same amount of time to get there," Wallace said.

DEFENSE HAS BEEN KEY

Since making defensive adjustments in mid-January, the 'Bows have won three of their past four games, and allowed an average of 56.0 points per game in those four games.

While still employing mostly a man-to-man defensive scheme, the 'Bows are relying more on double-teams and "help" defense.

"It's just a little different now, but we're playing better defense as a team," co-captain Matt Lojeski said. "We don't have to rely on our offense so much to carry us."

WACKY SCHEDULE AGAIN

The 'Bows played three WAC games in three different cities last week — at home against Utah State on Monday, at Fresno State on Thursday, and then at Nevada on Saturday.

This week, Hawai'i will play only one home game, Saturday against Louisiana Tech. The 'Bows will play another home game two days after that on Feb. 12 against New Mexico State.

The 'Bows already lost road games this season at Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State.

"Two more tough ones at home; it's never easy," Wallace said. "And Louisiana Tech has owned us the last couple years, so we need the time to get ready for that one."

The 'Bows returned to Honolulu from Reno yesterday afternoon, and will not practice today or tomorrow.

"We'll take a couple of days off for the guys to kick the flu bug and get caught up on their studies," Wallace said.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.