LAS VEGAS — If the hottest temperature the University of Hawai'i football team has ever played in — 97 degrees at kickoff — wasn't enough to make the Warriors sweat early, then the way they squandered first-half scoring opportunities surely was.

Seeing UH leave 10 — or more — potential points on the field in the first half, you were left with the uneasy feeling they could come back to haunt the Warriors at the end.

And, they did in what turned out to be an especially bitter end, too, a 34-33 non-conference loss to Nevada-Las Vegas last night at Sam Boyd Stadium.

You don't waste water in the desert or, if you are the visiting team, scoring opportunities, and not suffer the consequences.

The Warriors should be 3-0 right now — a start enjoyed by the 1992 Holiday Bowl and 2007 Sugar Bowl teams. But because they couldn't put more than 20 points on the scoreboard in the first half when their offense was rolling — at least between the 20 yardlines — and couldn't keep the Rebels off of it at the end, they headed home at the end of an 11-day, two-game roadtrip with a split and an overall 2-1 record.

"We left too many points, too many chances out there," sighed quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich.

To be sure the Warriors put up yards a plenty: 477 passing yards and and 505 total offensive yards, surpassing UNLV (340 passing and 460 total offense) in both categories. They moved the ball impressively, for the most part.

But what counted were points and UNLV had one more at game's end.

"We're not here to break records; we're here to put points on the board," Rolovich said. "We did a lot of good things and we have a chance to be a very good offense but we need to convert our chances into points, not just yards."

The statistical numbers were particularly lopsided at halftime — 361 yards total offense for UH to UNLV's 196 and 341 UH passing yards to UNLV's 119.

But the story was that UH led just 20-14.

UH settled for a 20-yard Scott Enos field goal on its first possession following four shots inside the UNLV 3-yard line, two of which were passes broken up in the end zone.

Then, on UH's next possession following a first down at the Rebel 20, Enos' 31-yard field goal attempt was wide right as the kick unit hurriedly rushed to get on the field in time. What they should have done, under the circumstances, UH coaches acknowledged, was call a timeout.

UH did get a touchdown on Greg Alexander's 54-yard pass to Greg Salas but missed out on a 24-karat opportunity next time out when Alexander was intercepted at the UNLV 8 yard line.

When they went into the locker room up 20-14 there was no sense of relief. "The coaches told us at halftime it shouldn't be that close," said receiver Kealoha Pilares.

Maybe they knew something because UH was to see very little of the ball in a third quarter in which UNLV monopolized the time with 24 plays to UH's 4 and took its first lead, 21-20.

You could argue that the defense needed to do a better job of slowing down UNLV in the second half. Which would be true, of course. But the Warriors also came into this season knowing that there would be times when the offense would have to help carry the rebuilding defense. They would have to return the favor for last year when the defense shouldered the burden.

It was especially so last night with UH's two starting defensive ends, Paipai Falemalu and Fetaiagogo "John" Fonoti missing the game due to injuries.

Head coach Greg McMackin said, "We talked at halftime (about) how we have to finish. We worked on the red zone a lot and inside the 10 (yardline) a lot (in practice). But we have to finish. We did (finish drives) in the second half but we have to get better as a team. We were one point shy tonight."

McMackin maintained that, when coming up short, the margin hardly matters. "One point or 50 (points), it doesn't matter," he said.

Unless, the one point — and a lot more beside — could have been taken care of early. And probably should have.