As they leave the shores of home, it’s clear what the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors need to shore up.

Rebounding shortcomings were a common thread between UH’s first two Big West Conference home games last week, an overtime loss to Cal Poly and a bounce-back win vs. Cal State Northridge.

UH (13-5, 1-1 Big West) attempted to address the issue before departing Thursday for its lone game of the week, an ESPNU-televised contest at UC Riverside (8-8, 1-1) on Saturday.

"We have to show improvement on the boards," UH coach Benjy Taylor said. "I’m not pleased with where we are with that at all. I really think that’s an effort stat. Our guys are trying to get out on the break a little too early. We gotta secure the rebound first, and go from there."

Going back to nonconference play, UH has been outrebounded in three straight and four of five, a counterpoint to the Rainbow Warriors’ Big West-best rate of forcing turnovers. They were minus-13 on the boards against CSUN and minus-10 against Poly.

Sometimes UH has been at a disadvantage on the glass with its defense extended to pressure the ball, but other times — on missed opponent free throws, most painfully — 50-50 balls have gone opponents’ way.

It might not be as easy as UH getting in a stance and snapping its collective fingers to reverse the trend.

"It’s definitely not. It’s all heart, it’s all effort," said Mike Thomas (4.0 rpg), who’s been the de facto center in UH’s starting lineup at 6 feet 7. "We have to go out there and play."

Taylor is also looking for more out of 6-foot-11 backup big men Stefan Jovanovic and Stefan Jankovic, who’ve averaged 4.3 and 3.7 rebounds, respectively. Granted, they’ve each been in only 18 minutes per game.

"That’s true," Jankovic said of the need for improvement. "Me, myself, I only had one rebound last game. Bad. You know, we’re not bad as far as rebounding, me, Mike and Stef. It can’t all be on us. I think the guards have done a good job, and I think we’ll continue to improve, through a team effort."

The ‘Bows, who lack a dominant paint presence, have been successful gang rebounding most of the season, but have been hurt in that regard by the absence of senior guard Garrett Nevels. When he’s in, the 6-2 Nevels adds an element of toughness and contributes 4.7 rebounds per game.

Nevels has been out of Big West play thus far, recovering from right hand surgery. He’s doubtful to play at Riverside, but will make the trip.

Nevels said he’s targeting next Thursday’s home game against UC Davis for his return. In the meantime, he’s worked on the side in practices to keep his conditioning up.

"If my finger was cool, I could play a game, no problem," Nevels said. "I’m not doing anything (with the hand) really, just waiting for it to heal."

The spring semester is under way. The Rainbow Warriors have yet to play a game on an opponent’s home court this season, although UH’s 90-70 loss to BYU on Dec. 6 before a hostile crowd in Salt Lake City came pretty close to counting as a true road game.

"We’re all excited to get on the road. A lot of us are excited to go back to Cali for the first time," said forward Aaron Valdes, who is coming off a career-high 34 points vs CSUN. "It’s gonna be a good atmosphere. We’re going to have fans there. … (Last year) I think we actually had more fans (than them). A lot of the games were like that. But they’re going to have their fans there. I know they’re a lot better this year, so a lot of people are probably watching them. It’ll be a fun game."