They booed at halftime ... and this was basketball, not football.

But who, specifically, were the fans at the Stan Sheriff Center jeering?

1) The Brigham Young coaches, for arguing a call.

2) The Hawaii players, who had just been outhustled on their home court to a 10-point deficit.

3) The designer of the Rainbow Dancers' outfits.

At least two of the three above deserved it Friday night, you take your pick (since my regular fashion statement is a sauce-stained wrinkled dress shirt, I'll cut some slack on No. 3).

Things got worse for Hawaii after the break. The Rainbows scored the first five, but that was a fluke. BYU guard Jimmer Fredette showed he's a lot more than just a consensus all-name teamer.

And the Cougars continued to deal like right here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was their home, instead of the mountains of Provo, Utah. They played with intensity, competence and poise—which could not be said of the Rainbows, performing like befuddled and bedraggled visitors in their own arena.

THE MAN the place was named after would've been steamed. Riley Wallace would have thrown his coat into the loges.

Bob Nash was unhappy, but how can you tell?

He arrived at the postgame media briefing quite a few minutes later than normal. He was, as usual, placid and polite ... but minus the quirky quips. That's how he is after a loss, at least to people not wearing Hawaii jerseys.

Nash had spent the time between the end of the 83-65 blowout and his talk with the reporters letting his team know—at a decidedly higher decibel level—that its lack of effort was unacceptable.

“;We can't let a team like BYU get 32 points off turnovers,”; Nash said. “;The energy level wasn't where it needed to be.”;

Indeed. The first thing this team needs to learn is it will not win without full effort and attention to detail.

B-Y-WHO?

UH fans used to say that in mock disregard of the hated rival. Now the ignorance isn't feigned. No one under 40 here remembers Danny Ainge or Michael Smith. And apparently, they don't know you're supposed to loathe the Cougars.

Nash said the Monday night/Tuesday morning midnight madness loss to Northern Colorado had nothing to do with the 'Bows' lethargy Friday. But maybe it did, maybe the energy jolt from the young crowd of students earlier in the week contributed to the lack of intensity a few days later. Whatever the reason, not a good thing.

There was plenty to dislike. Lack of rotation on defense. Just going through the motions of the flex motion instead of running it crisply. UH's last scholarship guy off the bench, Ji Xiang, played 1 minute and outscored flashy but disinterested starting guard Dwain Williams—2-0.

Most heinous, however, was not getting back on defense.

“;We didn't spring back every time,”; forward Petras Balocka said. “;They were efficient and made us pay for it.”;

The Rainbows certainly miss the injured Bill Amis, and not just his scoring and rebounding production. Nash and Balocka both said his teammates look up to him, and would follow his hustling lead.

Maybe times have changed, but they've got to inspire themselves ... and not let any team, especially BYU, take over Hawaii's arena like it's their home.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.