The Aztecs eventually couldn't keep up with the torrid offensive pace, had a few empty possessions and trailed 27-16.

Then, down eight, LeDee got his second foul with 6:33 left in the half and coach Brian Dutcher had a decision to make: Stick with his history and sub out his leading scorer (the Aztecs rank 331st in Division I in two-foul participation), or roll the dice and leave him in.

Dutcher did a little of both. He left LeDee for two more minutes, and the Aztecs trimmed the margin to five.

Then he took him out for the final 4:27, and the Aztecs made only basket and trailed 40-31 at intermission.

It might have been closer, except Reese Waters stumbled trailing UConn sharpshooter Cam Spencer over the second of two staggered screens and Spencer calmly drained the open 3 (as he has 44% of the time this season).

But it could have been worse. A year ago, they trailed the Huskies by 12 at halftime.

"We're not going away, we're not going away," one particularly vocal SDSU fan kept screaming.

A year ago, the Aztecs whittled away the deficit to five with five minutes to go. This year, it went in the opposite direction.

The rubber band snapped.

Notable

The officials: Roger Ayers (ranked No. 4 in the Kenpom ref ratings), Tony Henderson (38) and Jeff Clark (51). All three are East Coast-based and haven't seen SDSU this season. Between them, they've worked eight UConn games this season. Over their careers, they've done three combined SDSU games — all at the Maui Invitational, all SDSU losses. Ayers worked the Final Four last year but was on UConn-Miami … Dutcher cleared the bench and put in the walk-ons for the final minute. In all, 14 players saw action … Freshman guard BJ Davis scored a layup in traffic at the buzzer … About the only statistical category that the Aztecs won was blocks, with four to UConn's one.

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