Top 23 moments and numbers from UConn's 111-game winning streak

A heartbreaking overtime road loss to No. 4 Stanford snapped UConn’s 47-game winning streak. But where one streak ends, another begins. The Huskies returned home to leave no doubt they were still the team to beat. The Creighton Bluejays were the unfortunate victims that would face UConn’s wrath, losing handily 96-60. This would be the catalyst in another historic winning streak for the Huskies.

That first double-digit drubbing of Creighton would be a sign of things to come for future UConn opponents over the next couple years. The Huskies have won 97 percent of their games during this streak by double digits. Some teams could keep up with UConn for a while, even staying close in the second half. However, like all great teams, the Huskies talent wore teams down and eventually broke them.

Domination is an often used, but inadequate word used to describe the UConn women during this streak. Not only have they been beating opponents by double digits, they have been running up scores like Saturday Night Live has been running up viewers since President Donald Trump took office. In more than 50 percent of their wins, they have destroyed opponents, doubling up teams in some cases. Even when they clear their bench, the Huskies are still putting their foot on the gas pedal.

UConn achieved its largest margin of victory against South Florida during the streak in 2017. This just wasn’t some team from a low-tier conference. This was a nationally ranked conference opponent that was 64-13 against any other team the last three seasons at that point. But when the Huskies are running hot, they burn like the Battle of Blackwater Bay (Spoilers).

Okay, the Charleston Cougars aren’t exactly a college basketball juggernaut, but anytime a team is able to hold a team to 16.4 percent shooting from the field with 24 forced turnovers, it is a good day of basketball. This is the lowest point total that UConn has allowed during the streak. It would match that score again against Memphis later in the year.

There’s a lot you can do in ten minutes: make a cup of coffee, pay some bills, run a mile (sometimes). The SMU Mustangs also did something in ten minutes against UConn: score one basket. The Huskies forced the Lady Mustangs to go 1/17 from the field on their way to a 26-2 first quarter. Sadly for the rest of Division I women’s basketball, this kind of dominance was not rare.

Oh yeah, and they also broke the record for most consecutive wins in Division I basketball history against SMU that same game. UConn has now eclipsed UCLA’s 88-game winning streak on the men’s side twice.

You may think that UConn has built this streak by beating some cupcake teams, specifically during its non-conference schedule. You would be wrong. The Huskies don’t make things easy on themselves at the beginning of the season.

Since losing to No. 2 Stanford more than two years ago, UConn has been undefeated in its brutal non-conference schedule. That was especially impressive this year where seven of its 12 non-conference games were against ranked opponents. 

Non-conference schedules are usually used to slowly build towards important conference games in the future. That means using Division II and low-tier, mid-major schools as punching bags. Not for the Huskies it seems.

Again, it’s not like the Huskies are getting lucky in their scheduling. They are playing top opponents during the season, and during the NCAA Tournament when the stakes are high. They’ve only allowed one top-five team to get within single digits at the end of the game.

Well, speak of the devil. Maryland actually came back from a 19-point deficit to cut the UConn lead to five with 3:40 left in the game. However, big shots from Napheesa Collier and Saniya Chong carried the Huskies to their 87th consecutive win. Even with a deafening crowd on the road, UConn was able to show up when the game was on the line.

Maryland has actually become UConn’s “rival” if there is such a word during this streak. The Huskies were locked in another close battle with the Terrapins almost a year prior to UConn’s six-point win in 2016. Maryland cut the UConn lead to four after a clutch three from Tierney Pfirman with 1:11 left in the game. However, Saniya Chong played the hero like she would a year later with an ice-cold three of her own the next possession to extend the lead and help hold off the charging Terrapins.

While Maryland may be UConn’s rival during this streak, it was Florida State that gave the Huskies their biggest scare. The first game of the season is a good time to get the year started off on the right foot, but teams can sometimes get out the gate rusty. UConn was down by seven at one point in the third quarter before they began making shots and making stops. They clawed their way back to a 78-76 lead with six seconds left in the game. After Crystal Dangerfield missed a free throw that would have extended the lead to three, Florida State’s Imani Wright potential game-winning three fell short. The Huskies escaped Tallahassee with their 76th consecutive win.

Great teams find ways to win even when things aren’t clicking. UConn was uncharacteristically missing shot after shot at Tulane. For other teams, shooting 38 percent from the field and turning the ball over 18 times is a death sentence. However, the Huskies are no ordinary team. They outrebounded the Green Wave 44-31, and forced Tulane to shoot 36 percent from the field. It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless.

Good teams win at home. Great teams win on the road. All-time great teams win 41 straight on the road. Getting to the top of the mountain will make you a lot of enemies, and you’ll get everyone’s best shot. The Huskies have withstood hostile environment after hostile environment during this streak, and nothing has fazed them yet.

If there was any team that made UConn semi-mortal, it was Notre Dame. The Irish were knocked out the Huskies in the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Tournament, stopping what could have been five or six consecutive national championships for UConn. However, the Huskies appear to have exorcised those demons, winning two consecutive title games against the Irish – including one in 2015 during the streak.

The pursuit of perfection isn’t just a cheesy line in car advertisements – it is a part of the UConn Huskies’ blood. The Huskies added another perfect season to the history books last year after dominating Syracuse in the National Championship game, 82-51. UConn currently holds six of the 12 perfect seasons in Division I women’s basketball history.

A lot of great players have made their way through the University of Connecticut, but no one is more decorated than Breanna Stewart. Not only was she named consensus Player of Year three times in a row, she won four national championships and was named the Final Four’s most outstanding player four times. She ended her career at UConn second in career points, fourth in career rebounds, first in blocks and fifth in field goal percentage.

There are a lot of firsts that UConn can lay claim to, and this WNBA first is one that may never be seen again. The first three picks of the WNBA Draft came from UConn in 2016. But when your program records a perfect season capped off with national championship, the pros will be looking extra close at the talent on your team.

When the dust settled from conference realignment in 2013, the University of Connecticut found itself in the newly formed American Athletic Conference. Since that time, the Huskies have never lost a conference game. During the streak, they have gone 61-0 against conference opponents, including the AAC tournament.

It’s kind of weird to think that a team this dominant would be anywhere but No. 1 in the polls. UConn dropped to No. 3 after losing to Stanford in overtime in 2014, and then started in the 2016 season at the same spot after losing its top three players. Every year, however, they have fought their way back to the top spot and have won 78 wins as the top-ranked team in the AP Poll during this streak.

Any time you can top the late Pat Summitt in anything, you’ve done something with your coaching career. When UConn beat Oregon to reach the Final Four, Auriemma topped Summit for most NCAA Tournament wins in NCAA history. He earned 16 of those wins during this streak, and doesn’t appear to slowing down anytime soon.

Think about this: there are thousands, maybe millions of young sports fans that have only seen UConn in every Final Four since they have been born. The Huskies have spent a decade as one of the last four teams standing in women’s college basketball. When it comes to shining moments, the UConn’s moment has become a blinding spotlight.

All good things come to an end. Mississippi State pulls one of the most memorable upsets in college basketball history, knocking off the UConn with a buzzer-beating shot from Morgan William. The Huskies gave up 15 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 17 times in the loss. UConn will not get to play for their fifth-consecutive national championship, but they took us on a heck of a ride on one of the greatest winning streaks of all time.