The Huskies have won 61 straight games heading into Sunday’s meeting with Louisville at Freedom Hall. They have won 60 straight regular season games, 130 straight against unranked opponents, 53 straight regular season games at home and 236 straight regular season games at home against unranked opponents. They have also gone 211 straight games without allowing a team to shoot over 50 percent from the field.
All of these streaks are, of course, impressive in their own right, especially the current overall winning streak which is nine short of UConn’s Division I record of 70. But the one streak that truly exemplifies the overall consistency of the Huskies is the fact that they have not lost back-to-back games in 600 games. This is a streak they truly take great pride in extending.
“We try not to miss two shots in a row,’’ senior Kalana Greene said. “To lose two games in a row? I know I haven’t done that. Losing is not an option. Coach (Geno Auriemma) always goes when we’re playing bad, `Maybe we should lose and it will pick you guys up,’ but he doesn’t mean it. Besides, make a mistake in a win and then we’ll correct it. Winning is what we want to do. That’s why I came here. I came here to win. Up to this point I’ve lost 11 games in five years and some teams lose more than that in a single season. We don’t even think about losing. It’s never in our minds. You work to win and if you do the work you won’t lose.’’
UConn has not lost two straight games since the final two games of the 1992-93 season – an 87-73 loss to Providence in the Big East tournament semifinals March 7, 1993 and a 74-71 loss to Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament March 17, 1993. The Huskies are a combined 556-44 (.927) since those defeats.
To put this run in perspective, the best rival Tennessee could do was go 313 games without suffering consecutive losses. That string ended Jan. 26, 2006 after losses to Duke and Kentucky in a span of four days.
“We take every game to heart,’’ Auriemma said. “We certainly don’t like losing. We don’t like not preparing properly and we prepare the best that we can to win every game. Then win or lose, we try to learn from it and play better the next game. Maybe that’s a big factor. When we win we think about things we can do better. When we lose we break it down and tear it apart and come ready to go the
next game.’’
Former UConn recruit Jacki Gemelos finally made her debut for USC in Thursday’s 61-55 loss at California. She had eight points, five rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes.
Gemelos, who chose to attend USC after de-committing from UConn, was tabbed as the top player in the Class of 2006 along with Tina Charles. But Gemelos has since undergone four ACL-related surgeries – two on each knee.
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