Geno Auriemma and Connecticut matched UCLA's record streak in one of basketball's most famous arenas.
Already with no equal in women's hoops, UConn won its 88th straight game Sunday to tie the mark set by coach John Wooden and his UCLA men's teams from 1971-74. Tiffany Hayes scored 26 points and Maya Moore added 22 to help the top-ranked Huskies rout No. 11 Ohio State 81-50 in the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden.
In an 81-50 defeat of No. 11 Ohio State at Madison Garden, the No. 1 UConn women tied the UCLA men's streak of 88 consecutive wins. After the game, Auriemma finally cut loose and said gender has played into the reaction of outsiders to his team's chasing UCLA's college basketball consecutive wins record.
"I just know there wouldn't be this many people in the room if we were chasing a woman's record," the Connecticut coach said Sunday near the end of his postgame news conference. "The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record, and everybody is all up in arms about it."
UConn already owned the longest winning streak in NCAA women's basketball history. Next up, the Huskies (10-0) can surpass the UCLA men Tuesday night at home against No. 15 Florida State.
Connecticut matched the Bruins' mark before a crowd of 15,232 — the second-biggest for a women's game at Madison Square Garden. With 40 seconds left, the crowd rose and chanted "88! 88!"
Unlike most of their previous wins during the streak, UConn players stuck around and celebrated at halfcourt. When the team went back to the locker room, Auriemma stopped to hug his mom and wife in the stands.
"To get to where they've gotten as a program is pretty remarkable," Auriemma said. "If we were fortunate enough to win Tuesday night, that just means that we would have done something in women's basketball that is pretty special."
The Huskies led 29-21 before scoring nine straight points — the last five by Kelly Ferris — to take a 38-21 lead. UConn led 40-26 at halftime as Moore and Hayes combined for 28 points.
Moore ended any hopes of an Ohio State comeback, scoring nine of the Huskies' first 13 points in the second half as they broke the game open.
Lavender came into the game leading the nation in scoring with 26.6 points a game, but was held to just 14 for Ohio State, which fell to 2-7 against No. 1 teams.
The Huskies' last loss came against Stanford in the NCAA tournament national semifinals in 2008. Since then they have reeled off victory after victory, routing opponents in dominating fashion. Only twice during this unprecedented run has a team come within single digits of UConn — Stanford in the NCAA championship game last season and Baylor in early November.
UConn has won by an average of nearly 25 points a game against ranked teams during the streak. Rarely have the Huskies found themselves in trouble in those 30 games. They have trailed for just 134 minutes — including only 13 in the second half.
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