The lesson? At UC Davis, the "starting lineup" is not five, but often eight to 10. Fogel learned that depth pays off, as in a national championship last year.

Now after being elevated to head coach following three years as an Aggies assistant, Fogel still believes the team concept should remain in vogue.

Saturday at the Rec Hall, with 10 of the 12 Aggies players playing 16 minutes or more, UC Davis defeated San Francisco State 69-52.

"Obviously, I am very pleased with our depth," said Fogel, whose team improved to 5-1 for the year and 2-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

"Dante (Ross, starting point guard and floor leader) was sick tonight and couldn't play that much. His backup, Tyler Boyd, has an eye problem and couldn't play, and Kevin Nosek had to play a lot more than usual.

"Usually, early games are the ones you use to find out who can play. But to have to do it in league, and win, that says something about the team and the system."

The Aggies held a 31-21 lead at the half and were still ahead by 10, at 43-33, with 11:45 to go when one of the many Aggies "starters," Scott Darmstadt, made 10 straight points to give the Aggies a 53-37 lead with 8:14 left.

"I learned last year that at any time you could be in the game and are expected to do the job. That's what's so special about this team and this system -- everybody is expected to contribute," said Darmstadt, a sophomore "reserve."

Darmstadt was the only Aggie in double figures with 14.

Aggies women 75, Gators 52 -- Des Abeyta, after shooting a horrendous 4-of-14 Friday night in the Aggies' CCAA opener against Sonoma State, found the basket with more regularity Saturday.

Abeyta, a 6-foot-3 junior post player, scored 18 of her game-high 20 points in the first half as the Aggies (7-1, 2-0) took a 38-19 halftime lead.

For the game, Abeyta, who played only six minutes the second half, was 10 of 13 from the field and led the team with eight rebounds.

"Some nights they fall, other nights they don't," Abeyta said. "During warm-ups, I worked on my underneath shots a lot and I just felt a lot more cohesive to the team tonight than I did Friday."

As good as the Aggies looked in the first half (48 percent from the field), they fell into a lull during the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Gators (3-3, 1-1) pulled to 49-38 with nine minutes left.

"It's got to be what I'm doing or not doing at halftime," said Aggies coach Sandy Simpson, "because this has happened to us a lot. We come out in the second half, and it's just not happening at times.