BOSTON — The game was barely underway, Jaedon LeDee popping in a nice little jumper to give San Diego State a 2-0 lead over Connecticut just as everyone was settling into their seats at TD Garden Thursday night. But what happened next was one of those previews-of-coming attractions kind of plays that, looking back on it, told us exactly where this Sweet 16 matchup was headed.

For there went Connecticut’s big fella, Donovan Clingan, rumbling and roaring and muscling his way to the basket, around Aztecs, through Aztecs, until putting the ball in the net to tie the game. Just one basket, that’s all. Just 46 seconds into the game. And yet it said so much.

See, it wasn’t Clingan’s scoring touch that powered Connecticut to its easy 82-52 victory over San Diego State in the East Regional semifinal, sending the defending national champions to an Elite Eight showdown on Saturday against Illinois. It was that his opening basket served as a reminder that while this is a team with stupendous talent — more about that in a moment — it’s also a team with thump. In the first half alone, when the Aztecs were keeping it close thanks to 15 points from LeDee, UConn collected 12 offensive rebounds to just five by San Diego State. By the end of the night, that big advantage in offensive rebounding had swelled to 21-12, resulting in 12 second-chance points for the Huskies.

The message here, besides all that UConn talent — and, yes, again, we’ll get to that in a moment — is that you can’t beat the Huskies if you can’t take the ball away from them.

The Huskies have done away with the old-fashioned practice of merely winning games. They’ve been going the wrecking-ball route lately, winning games by 39 (over Stetson), 17 (Northwestern) and San Diego State (30).

What, you ask, is going on here? Easy: “We suck at winning close games,” UConn coach Dan Hurley explained. “So you have to go with the alternative.”

Ahh, there we are. The Huskies are good and they want you to know they’re good. No, the Huskies are great and they want you to know they’re great. It’s practically stamped on their foreheads. Not so much as a brag, even though by definition that’s what it is, but as an exercise in neatly rolling out facts and figures to make a point.

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