Now, we'll see if it worked.

The Utes play at league-leading San Diego State tonight to begin a difficult stretch of three games in seven days - which should tell a lot about whether they can seriously contend for a championship. After all, the Utes have been one of the worst road teams in the league the past two seasons, and history shows that no team from the Mountain West wins a regular-season title or reaches the NCAA Tournament with more than four conference road losses.

"Great teams learn to win on the road," guard Johnnie Bryant said. "Teams that win on the road and take care of home court, they win championships. Hopefully, we can head in the right direction."

Needless to say, the Utes didn't win any championships the past two seasons.

The Utes were just 3-13 in league road games in that span - only TCU was worse - and did not pick up their first league win away from the Huntsman Center in either season until early February. Overall, they're 6-21 on the road since reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2005, and that doesn't count their 3-5 record in games held on neutral courts.

Even this season, the Utes have strained away from home, fading down the stretch and losing to Washington, Oregon and Gonzaga.

"Road wins are precious," Boylen said. "And the way this thing is shaping up, it's very difficult to win on the road. . . . It's just hard."

Yet the 10-4 Utes showed a capacity for winning on the road when they seemingly learned from their near misses against the Huskies and Ducks - the Oregon game was played on a neutral court, technically, though it wasn't far from the Ducks' campus - and won at Cal last month.

"We've been battle-tested in the preseason," forward Shaun Green said. "We've had really hard road games, games that we think we should have won. I think the first one is really big, just for our confidence and for what we want to do this season. We get the first one [and] we'll be able to . . . feel like we can go through and play anybody. Especially if we get that first road win. It will be huge."

The 12-4 Aztecs are one team the Utes have seldom had trouble beating, having won 16 of the last 19 meetings, including three of the last four at Cox Arena. The Aztecs also are one of only five teams the Utes have beaten in true road games since 2004-05.

Winning tonight, though, will depend a lot on how the Utes fare against the push-the-pace Aztecs with a depleted lineup.

Forwards Kim Tillie and Stephen Weigh are injured and not expected to play, leaving the Utes frighteningly thin in the frontcourt. Boylen said that the officiating will "dictate a lot" for the Utes, and he has prepared guards Carlon Brown and Luka Drca to help forward Morgan Grim back up Green at power forward. Rebounding could be a problem, Boylen said, if the Utes have to play "small."

Yet simply being in another building has too often been a problem for the Utes.

"You have the fans cheering against you, and they have the fans behind them," Green said. "Everybody feeds off their home crowd, you get more energy, you play harder. . . . Sometimes shooting on the road is harder, too, going into a gym that you're not familiar with."

Of course, when you do win on the road, it is a glorious achievement.

"I just like when everybody's against you," said Grim, the freshman who will be playing his first league road game tonight. "I like when good things happen, and the crowd just starts to shut up. I love road games. Always have."

The rest of the Utes might start loving them, too, if they can just start winning them again.

mcl@s]ltrib.com

THE ROAD HITS BACK

The Utes have been among the worst road teams in the Mountain West since reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2004-05:

League Overall

New Mexico 4-13 7-21

Colorado State 4-13 9-21

Utah 3-13 6-21

Wyoming 3-14 5-23

TCU 1-16 2-25

FEW AND FAR BETWEEN

The Utes have won only six true road games since the 2004-05 season:

Nov. 26, 2005 - Utah 67, Weber State 62

Feb. 1, 2006 - Utah 71, Wyoming 63

Feb. 11, 2006 - Utah 67, San Diego State 65

Feb. 3, 2007 - Utah 70, TCU 65

Nov. 28, 2007 - Utah 72, Weber State 52

Dec. 22, 2007 - Utah 67, Cal 65