Uconn falls out of top 10 after Louisville defeat
Last time Huskies had not been there was March 2005
Following the Uconn women’s basketball team’s loss to Louisville on Sunday, the Huskies fell four spots to No. 11 in this week’s Associated Press women’s college basketball poll, ending a record streak of 313 consecutive weeks in the top 10 dating to March 7, 2005, when the team was also 11th. That streak was 101 more weeks than the next-longest one, courtesy of Tennessee.
No. 10 Baylor now has the longest active streak, with 136 consecutive top-10 appearances.
Uconn has lost two of its three games since reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers and backup point guard Nika Mühl have been sidelined with injuries. Then-unranked Georgia Tech beat the Huskies in Atlanta and has since entered the AP Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 17 this week. After beating UCLA, the Huskies dropped a close one to then-no. 6, now No. 3 Louisville in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase this past weekend, marking the first time since 2004 that they’ve lost three games in a season before the new year.
Uconn sports two wins over ranked opponents so far this season: No. 18 South Florida and No. 20 Notre Dame.
Elsewhere in the rankings, South Carolina, which beat a healthy Uconn in the Bahamas by 16 in November, remains the consensus No. 1 team and will face off against new No. 2 Stanford on Tuesday in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Cardinal moved up one spot after winning at Tennessee on Saturday. It’s the 600th appearance in the AP Top 25 for Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer, who is 18 behind all-time leader Pat Summitt.
Louisville, Arizona and North Carolina State follow Stanford to round out the top five. The Wolfpack fell three places after losing in overtime to Georgia.
The Huskies are currently breaking for the holidays and are set to return to the court Dec. 29 against Marquette. Uconn coach Geno Auriemma seemed optimistic that Mühl and freshman Azzi Fudd could return after the break, which would provide a big boost to the Huskies’ backcourt. Junior Aubrey Griffin has yet to make her season debut, first due to a high-ankle sprain and now due to back issues. Bueckers’ recovery timeline is eight weeks from her Dec. 13 surgery that repaired a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear.