Aztecs Are Hoping to Improve Luck of Visiting Teams in WAC

With 10 seasons of coaching experience in the Western Athletic Conference, few know better than San Diego State’s Jim Brandenburg the power of the home-court advantage.

Brandenburg’s theory for WAC success is simple: Win all your home games, split on the road and chances are you will be the champions. But after 1 1/2 weeks of the 1989 WAC season, even that conservative approach is getting a test.

Of the first 12 conference games, only one has been won by the visiting team--Colorado State at Hawaii last Saturday. Tonight at Utah (6:35 PST), the Aztecs will try to make it two.

After an 83-58 victory at Baylor in their road opener, the Aztecs (8-5, 2-1 in WAC) have lost three road games in a row, the past two after they led at the half. SDSU blew a 13-point halftime lead in an 85-81 loss at Brigham Young Thursday. It was the 19th loss in 20 WAC road games over 4 seasons for the Aztecs, whose only victory in that span is 59-58 at Hawaii last year.

Playing the Utes (10-8, 1-2) doesn’t figure to be the easiest way to improve on that. Utah has won eight in a row in Huntsman Center since a 59-57 loss to Cal State Fullerton in its home opener.

The Utes, after a lost WAC weekend in the Southwest--82-66 at Texas El Paso and 85-66 at New Mexico to make their road record 1-5--are coming off a 71-61 victory over Hawaii Thursday at home. The game marked the return of starting center Watkins (Boo) Singletary, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery 4 1/2 weeks ago. Singletary scored a game-high 17 points in 33 minutes.

Singletary, a 6-foot 8-inch senior, joins 6-9 forward Mitch Smith (14.6 points, 9.4 rebounds per game), 6-9 freshman forward Josh Grant (8.7 and 6.7) and 6-8 reserve forward Jimmy Madison (11.4 points) to give the Utes one of the conference’s best front lines.

The Aztecs might be without 6-7 forward Sam Johnson (sprained left ankle) and point guard Bryan Williams (flu). Johnson missed the BYU game and was not expected to play tonight, but Brandenburg said Friday a decision would be made before the game.