HARTFORD, Conn. – UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma spent a half-hour extolling the virtues of ball control and defense to his team after a sloppy win against San Diego State at Cox Arena last year.

Those mistakes gave SDSU coach Beth Burns hope. After recognizing what gave UConn fits a year ago and making slight adjustments, Burns believed the defensive-minded Aztecs could hang in against the team unanimously ranked No. 1 in the nation.

But after last night's rematch, a game in which UConn defeated San Diego State 99-55 in front of 10,313 at the XL Center, all Burns could do was apologize to Auriemma.

“I expect us to compete,” she said.

Indeed, the Huskies (2-0) proved worthy of their ranking by dominating SDSU in every aspect of the game. UConn outscored the Aztecs (2-1) on the fast break and in the paint, won the battle on the boards and forced more turnovers than did their opponents.

Of course, shooting 64.1 percent doesn't hurt, either.

“They hit just about every shot they put up,” said Quenese Davis, who finished with two points and six assists. “It was kind of hard, but we tried to fight back but couldn't get back in it.”

UConn took a 12-2 lead barely five minutes into the game and never looked back, wearing down a SDSU team that had the willpower to fight but not the athleticism to do so.

If the 56-27 halftime deficit didn't remind SDSU what it was up against, the first three minutes of the second half certainly did. UConn went on a 14-0 run to break the game open, scoring at will in transition and forcing four Aztecs' turnovers.

“I mean, we did feel that it was slipping away, but we couldn't give up,” center Paris Johnson said. “That's a no-go with us. We just have to keep fighting to the end, and that's about it.”

The Aztecs did whittle a 52-point deficit with 7:30 remaining to 42 with two minutes left, but did so against UConn's deep bench.

“We have this saying that hard work beats talent when talent won't work hard, so when you put great talent that works hard against people who weren't working hard, I'm really disappointed,” Burns said.

Jene Morris scored a team-high 17 points off 7-for-19 shooting for SDSU, which shot 37.1 percent in its first East Coast trip in nearly 11 years.