Hawaii's loss at Illinois on Monday evolved into a battle of two extremes.

On one hand, the Rainbow Warriors basketball team dominated the backboards with a 43-14 rebounding advantage. On the other, the Fighting Illini created (or sometimes bore witness to) 22 Hawaii turnovers which hamstrung the 'Bows' chances to win their only nonconference road game.

The end result was a 68-58 defeat, and Hawaii (3-3) will have to wait until Jan. 8 at Idaho to try for its first road win.

The Rainbows returned to practice yesterday in their first session in the Stan Sheriff Center since the loss.

“;I felt like we outplayed their bigs, and even our guards outrebounded their guards,”; said junior forward Petras Balocka, who posted his best statistical game at UH with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting and a season-high 10 rebounds. “;But with all our turnovers ... they got (28 points) off turnovers and that just hurt us in the long run.

“;At the end of the day you have to make the right decision at the offensive end.”;

Hawaii ranks second among Western Athletic Conference teams in rebounding margin (plus 9.5) and first in offensive rebounds (14.5), but is dead last in turnovers per game (19.3) and turnover margin (minus 6.33).

Coach Bob Nash shook up the guard situation once again by starting Kareem Nitoto at the point following two games coming off the bench. He brought Lasha Parghalava—the previous point starter—in as a reserve for the first time all season.

Nine turnovers between the two—leading to a season-high in giveaways—was not what he had in mind. To make things worse, Hawaii only forced five turnovers (a season low) against the Illini.

“;You take away some of those turnovers, we're right there at the end with a chance to tie it up or win,”; Nash said. “;I thought we did a really good job at (all the little things to rebound). But they won the game because we turned the ball over and that's the issue we have to address.”;

Delivering crisp and accurate passes in the halfcourt game was emphasized yesterday.

“;It was tough playing at Illinois, great crowd, but I think turnovers have hurt us a lot,”; said Parghalava, who had his floppy hair shorn by roommate Balocka upon the team's return. “;It's tough for me because I never played point guard before (this season), but I'll do whatever to help the team.”;

Guard Hiram Thompson, a pure point, participated in all drills yesterday for the first time since tweaking his injured hamstring in the season opener against San Francisco. He'll be an option against Eastern Washington (6-2) tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.