The UConn Fast Break - 2/10/2023

The women's hoops team ends a remarkable streak, while men's hoops got its week off to a great start.

February 10, 2023

Welcome to this week’s Fast Break, and thank you for being a subscriber. How old were you when UConn women’s basketball last lost two straight?

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UConn men’s basketball returning to form?

Dan Hurley’s crew has seemed to emerge from the 2-6 run that knocked the Huskies from the nation’s elite and had them struggling to gain ground in the Big East standings after finishing the non-conference slate undefeated.

Exactly one month after the first loss, UConn traveled to Chicago and handed DePaul a 14-point loss. On Saturday, they followed it up with a road win over Georgetown that was a little too close for comfort, but still a victory away from home. This brought UConn to a rematch with Marquette at the XL Center on Tuesday.

At No. 10 in KenPom and the AP Poll, the Golden Eagles were UConn’s highest-ranked opponent at the time of the game this season and the highest since it beat Creighton (No. 9) at Gampel Pavilion on Jan. 7. It wasn’t clear how the Huskies were going to handle Shaka Smart’s elite and athletic scorers after they struggled to contain them in Wisconsin a few weeks prior.

But those worries disappeared after just a few minutes. It took UConn just 13:11 of game time to build a 20-point advantage. The Huskies dominated, shooting 50 percent from the field and doubling up Marquette on rebounds while getting a triple-double from Tristen Newton and a potentially breakthrough performance from Nahiem Alleyne.

The Huskies have now won three straight leading up to Saturday’s visit to Creighton, a huge game that will be on FOX. UConn gets DePaul, Providence, and Seton Hall at home after that, along with winnable road games at St. John’s and Villanova to complete the regular season.

“We’ve had a bunch of really good wins against really good teams. I’ve reminded our team that we’ve gone through one bad stretch that every team in the country goes through,” Dan Hurley said after the Marquette game. “We have a chance down the stretch in these last six regular season games to get our confidence back.

“I just think we’re built for tournament play.”

Weekly Rewind

Men’s Basketball

Marquette dominated - The Huskies have now taken three straight wins after a 15-point victory at the XL Center. It seems like UConn is back after a strong performance over a top-10 KenPom team. | Photos

Notes & Quotes: UConn over Marquette - What the players and coaches had to say after UConn’s big win.

Hoyas’ bark worse than its bite - It was closer than UConn may have wanted, but a win is a win.

Huskies at No. 21 in AP Poll - UConn is hanging around the AP Poll after a pair of road wins. Alex Karaban earned Freshmen of the Week honors, again.

Women’s Basketball

Marquette breaks the streak - After 1,083 games, UConn has finally lost consecutive games. The Huskies ran out of energy on the road against the Golden Eagles.

South Carolina wins at XL - The Huskies took the No. 1 team in the country to the wire. | Photos

Chasing Perfection - Do moral victories exist for UConn?

WNBA Free Agency - Catch up with all the latest moves with UConn alums in the league.

Recruiting updates ($) - What Class of 2024 target was behind the bench at the South Carolina game?

Men’s Hockey

Overtime dramatics - Hudson Schandor delivered victory for UConn over Northeastern in the dying seconds of overtime. | Photos

A standout performance for Logan Terness ($) - The sophomore goaltender had struggled but put on a great show against Northeastern on Friday night.

Bracketology ($) - The Huskies are in the tournament if it were to begin today, facing off with Quinnipiac in the first round.

Baseball

Pitching staff preview - A look at the Huskies’ pitching staff a week before the regular season begins.

Infield preview - Ben Huber, Bryan Padilla, and David Smith are back, but the hot corner and catcher spots are open with the first game just a week away.

Support the most in-depth coverage of UConn men’s hockey around!

Highlights

Overtime in the three-on-three format can create some exciting moments, including this goal from Hudson Schandor that gave UConn a big win in the final seconds of overtime instead of settling for a tie against Northeastern.

Memory Lane

Sixteen years ago this week, Jim Calhoun earned his 500th win at UConn. That triumph came over Syracuse at Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 5, 2007, in a Big Monday matchup, by a score of 67-60.

It was definitely a Big East battle, with neither squad breaking 40 percent on field goals. But the Huskies owned the boards, in no small part due to Jeff Adrien’s 12-rebound effort, five of which were on the offensive glass.

This game also featured the initial Huskies of Honor induction, with 13 players and three coaches, including Calhoun, honored at halftime.

Here’s the game story from the landmark victory, but also the coach’s Hall of Fame induction speech.

UConn, Great Pic

It was a great win for the men’s basketball team against Marquette. Ian Bethune was there to capture the glory.

Parting Thoughts

One of the sports world’s most incredible streaks is over.

After dropping two straight to end the 1992-93 campaign, Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies started a run of 1,083 games without back-to-back losses that ended this week.

Geno Auriemma and his teams made it through five presidencies without a losing streak. The last time UConn lost back-to-back games, before this week, cell phones were the size of a wireless router. There were 10,920 days between the second loss in each streak. Assuming four years per player, the entire roster turned over more than eight full times. The last 45 members of the team were not alive when the streak started.

This is a good time to appreciate just how insane this run of dominance has been for Auriemma and the UConn Huskies since he took over in 1986. Like Andy Bernard said, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.”

We’re still in them, so don’t forget about just how uncommon this is.

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