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UConn poised to set streak standard

The Connecticut women’s basketball team will be on the brink of history when it tips off Sunday against Ohio State in Madison Square Garden.

A win over the No. 10-ranked Buckeyes would be UConn’s 88th consecutive victory, which would tie the all-time streak in men’s or women’s basketball. UCLA’s men’s team won 88 straight from 1971 through 1974.

Connecticut broke its own NCAA record for the longest Division I women’s basketball winning streak with a 59-44 victory over Notre Dame in the Big East Conference tournament semifinals on March 8, 2010. (Wayland Baptist University won 131 consecutive women’s games from 1953 to 1958 as a member of the NAIA.)

The longest streak in any NCAA sport is owned by the Miami (Florida) men’s tennis team, which won 137 straight matches from 1957 through 1964.

Connecticut’s last loss in women’s basketball was at the hands of Stanford on April 4, 2008, in the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Final Four. The Huskies are the two-time defending national champion. Their win over Stanford in last year’s title game was No. 78 in the streak. They’ve been pressed only once this year in a 65-64 win over Baylor in Hartford on Nov. 16.  No one else has come within fewer than 20.

Ohio State has lost just once this year, a 75-66 defeat at Syracuse on Dec. 11.

If the Huskies beat Ohio State on Sunday, they host Florida State on Tuesday with a chance to break the UCLA record.

Top 10 all-time/all-divisions/all-sports winning streaks

Wins	Team	Division	Year(s)
137	Miami (Florida) men’s tennis	I	1957-64
130	BYU-Hawaii women’s tennis	II	2002-05
109	Penn State women’s volleyball	I	2007-10
92	North Carolina women’s soccer	I	1990-94
89	Stanford women’s tennis	I	2003-07
88	TCNJ women’s lacrosse	III	1992-96
88	UCLA men’s basketball	I	1971-1974
87	Connecticut women’s basketball	I	2008-current
81	Washington-St. Louis women’s basketball	III	1998-01
75	Concordia-St. Paul women’s volleyball	II	2008-10

 

Top 10 all-time/all-divisions women’s basketball winning streaks

Wins	Team	Division	Year(s)
87	Connecticut	I	2008-current
81	Washington-St. Louis	III	1998-2001
70	Connecticut	I	2001-03
60	Capital	III	1994-95
54	Louisiana Tech	I	1980-82
51	Washburn	II	2005-06
49	North Dakota State	II	1994-95
46	Tennessee	I	1996-98
44	Hope	III	2005-07
42	North Dakota State	II	1996-97

 

Top 10 all-time/all-divisions men’s basketball winning streaks

Wins	Team	Division	Year(s)
88	UCLA	I	1971-74
60	San Francisco	I	1955-57
60	Potsdam State	III	1985-87
57	Winona State	II	2005-06
52	Langston	II	1943-45
47	UCLA	I	1966-68
45	UNLV	I	1990-91
44	Texas	I	1913-17
43	Long Island	I	1935-37
43	Seton Hall	I	1939-41