A road trip to Idaho turned into the road to nowhere for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team last week.

The Rainbow Warriors lost a heartbreaker at Idaho, 76-75, on Thursday, and then couldn't recover in a 73-62 loss at Boise State on Saturday.

Hawai'i is now 10-9 overall and 1-5 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said the dismal trip to Idaho probably destroyed any remote chances the 'Bows might have had at an NIT bid.

In effect, the only way Hawai'i can get to the postseason now is to aim for the automatic NCAA Tournament bid that comes with winning the WAC Tournament in March at Las Cruces, N.M.

"I told the guys to stay focused and take something from this trip because we can still get it going for the (WAC) tournament," Wallace said.

The loss to lowly Idaho was especially costly, and Wallace said Hawai'i's power rating and number of victories will not mean so much now.

"It's going to be when you get the wins, and we need to work at putting it together to make a good run at the end," he said.

Wallace pointed out that there are similarities between this team and the 2000-01 'Bows.

The 2000-01 team struggled on the road and had difficulties with turnovers. Key players on that team were seniors Troy Ostler and Nerijus Puida, and junior Predrag Savovic.

That team was 9-10 after 19 games, and started the WAC with a 2-5 record. They eventually finished 17-14 overall, and 8-8 in the WAC. Most important, the 2000-01 'Bows upset three opponents to win the WAC Tournament and move on to the NCAA Tournament.

"Nerijus and those guys fought back and got a 17-win season, put it together in the tournament, when it counted," Wallace said. "We can do the same here because you can see how close we are in some of these losses."

Hawai'i's five WAC losses have been by an average of 4.6 points per game. The 'Bows will get a second shot at all five of those teams.

"We have to take care of our business at home," senior co-captain Ahmet Gueye said. "We get to see Idaho and Boise State again at our place, so that's our opportunity to make up for it."

Although the results of the Idaho trip would seem forgettable, the 'Bows said they want to remember it.

"There's no more saying 'Let's forget about this and move on to the next one,' " senior co-captain Matt Lojeski said. "We have to remember this, look at the film, and work on all the things we did wrong. We can't get the next one unless we figure out what happened in the last one."

Primarily, Wallace said the 'Bows need to get better defensively, and more consistent on offense.

In the games at Idaho and Boise State, no Hawai'i player shot better than 50 percent from the field in the two games. Gueye, for example, shot 6 of 9 against Boise State, but was 2 of 8 against Idaho.

"It's all about getting better now," Lojeski said. "We have to look toward the end of the season and see how much we can improve."

It starts Thursday with a home game against San Jose State.

Due to a scheduling quirk, the 'Bows will play only one game this week. But they'll have to make up for it next week when they host Utah State on Jan. 29, and then travel for road games at Fresno State on Feb. 1 and at Nevada on Feb. 3.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.