The Arizona Republic

UConn romps to victory to break own record with 91st straight win

- STEPHEN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS - Winning 91 in a row, that’s nice.

Now Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies can focus on the real goal — a return to Dallas to play for a fifth straight national championsh­ip.

UConn broke its own NCAA record with its 91st consecutiv­e victory Saturday with an 88-48 romp over SMU after scoring the game’s first 21 points.

“Even afterward, there’s a feeling of accomplish­ment, they feel like they’ve done something significan­t,” Auriemma said.

“But there isn’t this over-the-top screaming and yelling as if we just won a national championsh­ip.”

While his team has stayed on an even keel, Auriemma told them the streak “was maybe more significan­t than winning a national championsh­ip.”

UConn (16-0, 4-0 AAC) broke the record of 90 consecutiv­e wins that his team first had more than six years ago. They matched that mark with a 65-point rout of No. 20 South Florida last Tuesday.

“I’m not taking for granted at all this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of,” Katie Lou Samuelson said. “Now we can really just focus each game at a time, and not have to worry anything if we’re keeping it up or not.”

The four-time defending national champion Huskies haven’t lost a game since falling in overtime at sixth-ranked Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014.

Their first 90-game winning streak broke the Division I record of 88 straight wins by the UCLA men’s basketball team and famed coach John Wooden. That UConn streak also started after a loss to Stanford, in the 2008 national semifinal game, and ended with another loss at Stanford on Dec. 30, 2010.

While the Huskies don’t play Stanford in this regular season, they do have wins over second-ranked Baylor, thirdranke­d Maryland and sixth-ranked Notre Dame — the latter two on the road.

 ?? RAY CARLIN/USA TODAY SPORTS ?? Connecticu­t’s Katie Lou Samuelson dribbles around SMU’s Morgan Bolton on Saturday.
RAY CARLIN/USA TODAY SPORTS Connecticu­t’s Katie Lou Samuelson dribbles around SMU’s Morgan Bolton on Saturday.

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