While women’s college hoops doesn’t always get a rise out of me, when a team who hasn’t lost in 111 games gets defeated by a buzzer beater in the final four, it’s certainly worth mentioning. That’s exactly what went down last night when the UConn Huskies were defeated by Mississipi State in the very last second of the game. Little 5 foot 5 Morgan William pulls of for a jump shot to seal the game and give UConn their first loss in 867 days. MSU will now face South Carolina in the national championship game, ending UConn’s four-year title run.
Here’s a look at the shot.
What did we just witness? #WFinalFour
5-foot-5 Morgan William comes up BIG! @HailStateWBK pic.twitter.com/0I4eYDeIEy
— NCAA WBB (@ncaawbb) April 1, 2017
Here are some mind-boggling numbers to come out of UConn’s streak courtesy of NCAA
867: Days between UConn losses. The Huskies’ streak started with a 96-60 win over Creighton in Storrs, Connecticut on Nov. 23, 2014. UConn would finish 38-1 that banner season.
108: Double-digit wins during the streak. That leaves just three victories that came down to the wire for the Huskies. It was a lot of smooth sailing.
81: Wins while ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25. The Huskies were never ranked lower than No. 3 during the streak.
80: Consecutive wins in AAC play. UConn still hasn’t lost in conference play since the AAC was formed in 2013-14 – a year before the winning streak started.
65: Largest margin of victory during the streak. UConn’s biggest blowout came in a 103-37 shellacking against No. 20 South Florida on Jan. 10. That victory gave the Huskies their 90th straight, tying the all-time record.
61: Victories by at least 40 points. USF wasn’t alone in being simply overmatched.
46: Win streak before UConn’s last loss before this year’s Final Four. The Huskies’ second-to-last defeat came on Nov. 17, 2014 in an overtime thriller against long-time rival Stanford. That ended a respectable 46-game run.
38: Consecutive road victories during the stretch. The Huskies boast the three best road streaks in women’s basketball history. Their current mark – which doesn’t include neutral site play – surpassed the 34 straight road victories achieved by the program from 2000-04. The streak also passed the men’s record (36), which was achieved by Kansas from 1924-28.
29: Ranked teams beaten during this streak. With all these games against elite foes with equal Final Four aspirations at the end of each respective season, there had to be at least one setback right? Not until Friday night.
23: More wins than the men’s record. The UCLA men’s team, led by coach John Wooden, won 88 straight games from 1970-74. UConn now has two separate win streaks that surpass that total.
11: Ranked teams beaten this season. UConn’s nonconference schedule was unforgiving to open the season, but that didn’t stop the No. 1 Huskies. UConn knocked off No. 12 Florida State, No. 2 Baylor, No. 15 DePaul, No. 14 Texas, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 4 Maryland, No. 20 USF and No. 6 South Carolina in the regular season. In the NCAA tournament, the Huskies dispatched No. 21 Syracuse and No. 15 UCLA.
9: Wins over top five opponents. The Huskies beat then-No. 2 Baylor, then-No. 2 Notre Dame and then-No. 4 Maryland this season alone.
2: Least amount of points allowed in a single quarter during the streak. UConn held SMU to two points in the opening quarter of the record 91st straight win.
2: National titles won during streak. The Huskies have reached 10 consecutive Final Fours and won four straight championships from 2012-16.
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