SAN DIEGO — For a few brief moments, the ninth-seeded Aggies caught a glimpse of advancing to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend up the road in San Jose.

Despite finding themselves down by 18 points early in the second half of Sunday night’s second-round game against No. 1 seed Arizona, Utah State clawed its way back into the game with its defense and managed to close the gap to just four points on three occasions.

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But each time the Aggies got to within a couple of scores, the feisty Wildcats scored on their subsequent possessions to keep their opponents at bay and eventually ended Utah State’s season with a 78-66 victory at Viejas Arena.

“It hurts. I don’t want to take the uniform off,” USU graduate guard Drake Allen said quietly. “Knowing it’s going to be my last time wearing it means so much. And it really feels like a family. Everybody in Logan feels like one big family.”

Utah State (29-7) might have been able to get over the hump were not for a brutal performance from the 3-point line. But after going 1 for 12 from long distance in the first half, the Aggies finished just 8 for 32 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“When you can’t find it — the ball won’t go in from 3 — you’ve got to get to the rim,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “And I was really proud of our effort around the rim. I thought we were pretty efficient.

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“But to beat a No. 1 seed when you’re a No. 9 seed, you’ve got to make those 3s. And our guys knew that.”

The Aggies knew that going up against the significantly larger Wildcats (34-2) was going to be a challenge, but Calhoun’s crew still ended up with three more field goals than Arizona and Utah State (39.1%) notched an overall field goal percentage that was nearly identical to that of the Cats (39.3%).

But in addition to a rough night from 3-point range, the Aggies were outrebounded by a stunning 54-26 margin, and the Wildcats also shot 28 more free throws.

“So far, they’re 2-0 in this tournament, and they live in the paint,” Calhoun said of Arizona. “They chew the paint up. They play ’80s, ’90s basketball. The number of physical plays in the game — we haven’t seen that all year.

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“… But our guys did a tremendous job, I thought, the last nine minutes of really locking in on some of those details. You’ve got to be at least eight or 10 difference in the rebounding. It can’t be 28. And if you’re not going to rebound, you’ve got to make shots. So, it was just a couple of margins that we couldn’t overcome.”

Senior forward Garry Clark came off the bench to give the Aggies a huge lift, going 6 of 8 from the field, scoring 13 points and snagging six rebounds in just 18 minutes. Senior guard MJ Collins Jr. (12 points) and Allen (11 points) were the only other USU players to score in double figures.

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The Aggies’ one-two scoring punch of Collins and junior guard Mason Falslev (8 points) went a combined 7 of 26 from the field and 4 of 15 from 3-point range in the loss.

Thanks to Clark, Utah State’s bench outscored Arizona’s 27-10. But then, the Wildcats’ starters totaled 68 points by themselves, with guards Jaden Bradley (18 points) and Brayden Burries (16 points) leading the way.

Burries also delivered one of the biggest blows to the Aggies’ chances of an upset with 2:18 left and Utah State still within six points. The freshman guard buried a 3-pointer with 6-foot-9 USU wing Adlan Elamin closing in on him, extending Arizona’s advantage to 73-64.

“Obviously, Burries’ 3 was a dagger,” Calhoun declared. “I thought we played that possession really well. It was just a six-point game. … There’s a lot of plays through a 40-minute game that could impact it. And I thought that 3 by him was just a big-time shot in a big moment, and that kind of carried Arizona to the win.”

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Burries ended up going 3 of 3 from 3-point range while the rest of the Wildcats went 4 of 13 from long range.

“I think Brayden’s a winner, and he has ultimate confidence,” Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said. “It’s been a joy to coach him. … He’s a laid-back, kind-of-unassuming guy, but he has a killer in him. And that’s a beautiful attribute.”

The Wildcats, who have won 11 straight games, also got 14 points from freshman forward Koa Peat, and 11 points and 14 rebounds from junior Motiejust Krivas. The 7–foot-2 center blocked three shots, caused the Aggies’ offense and all sorts of problems and went 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to help Arizona advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth time in Lloyd’s five seasons in Tucson.

Conversely, Utah State still hasn’t won two games in the same NCAA Tournament since 1970. But despite never holding the lead — Burries buried a 3-pointer just 24 seconds into the game — trailing 33-24 at halftime and falling behind by 18 points early in the second half, the Aggies still gave their fans hope.

After a 10-foot jumpier by Burries forced Calhoun into calling a timeout with his team trailing 51-33 with 14:43 left, Utah State turned up the intensity defensively, holding Arizona without a field goal for over seven minutes while creating turnovers with its full-court defense.

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Two free throws by Elamin pulled the Aggies to within 56-51 at the 7:22 mark, and a 3-pointer by Allen closed the gap to just four points a minute later. But a putback by Krivas — one of Arizona’s 21 offensive rebounds — stretched the Cats’ lead back to 60-54.

Two more free throws from Elamin got USU back to four points once again, but those two points were offset when Arizona finally broke the Aggies’ press, leading to a 3-point play by Bradley. Following a missed 3-pointer by USU forward Karson Templin, Falslev came up with one of his three steals, which led to the Aggies getting back to within four points for a third and final time.

Allen enjoyed the moment, turning towards the Aggies’ fan section to celebrate Utah State getting back to 63-59 with just over five minutes to go. But his joy was short-lived, and USU’s momentum soon disappeared when Bradley scored the next three points of the game.

Although Allen did managed to slice through Arizona’s big men for a layup that left Utah State down 66-61, four free throws by Krivas and Burries’ clutch 3-pointer carried Arizona to the victory and brought Utah State’s spectacular season to an end.

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“I think it’s very hard for a season to end anytime; it just comes abruptly,” Calhoun noted. “Its one of those things that you don’t ever want to end. You just want to coach these guys another day, another game.

“We wanted to get to San Jose, but we weren’t able to do it.”