The troubles of road games have taken their toll on the UCLA men’s basketball team.

For the first time in more than a month, the Bruins (10-9, 3-4 Pac-12) are playing at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, but are once again on the road 15 miles away.

This week’s games against Utah and Colorado may be a home stand, but the concerns about what has transpired on the road are fresh on the minds of the Bruins.

They’ve blown leads when they had them, haven’t taken the lead when given the opportunity and ultimately haven’t been able to beat a Division I team outside of Southern California.

“Home or away, we’ve got to do the same thing no matter where we’re playing,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We’ve got to execute better at both ends (today) against Utah.”

Execution was a hot topic in the Bruins’ last game when they were unable to hold on to a 15-point lead against Oregon, what could have been their best road win of the season.

Howland said that the team has responded with two of its best practices of the season, just as it had after getting swept by Stanford and California on the road at the end of December.

“When you’re up, you want to continue to ride that,” senior guard Lazeric Jones said. “But when you take a loss, if you’re not mentally ready for it, you’ll get discouraged. Coach continues to get us uplifted, continues to tell us if we have good practices we’ll have good games. Every game we’ve won we had a good practice (before), and it shows.”

Conference newcomer Utah (5-14, 2-5) will meet UCLA today at the Los Angeles Sports Arena before upstart Colorado (13-6, 5-2) visits on Saturday.

Like UCLA, Utah kicked off its leading scorer, though the Utes did it much later in the season.

Furthermore, they were immersed in inconsistency well before coach Larry Krystkowiak dismissed Josh “Jiggy” Watkins.

The Utes have been able to steal a pair of Pac-12 wins, but have had their own road struggles.

The Bruins say they are learning from their poor performances on the road, where their flaws have been the most evident.

UCLA looked hapless against an Oregon barrage to open the second half on Saturday, and the stain of the 75-68 loss is still with the Bruins.

“The guys on the court are the ones who are controlling the pace and all five guys need to realize what’s going on,” redshirt sophomore forward Travis Wear said.

“Realize if they’re making a big run, we have to get a good shot. It’s up to the five guys on the court to realize that.”

Still, a home arena that sometimes doesn’t feel like one is still preferable to playing on the road.

UCLA will have to win some road games if it wants to contend for the Pac-12 championship, but for now, members of the team are happy to defend their home court in front of home fans.

“The Sports Arena is our home, it’s where we play our home games,” senior guard Jerime Anderson said.

“We’ve been on the road, then finally coming back to L.A. and going to school. More of our students will be out there. Really, I enjoy it.”