UConn carries an 18-game win streak in Sweet 16 or later into a stacked Final Four

When Connecticut makes it past the opening weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the Huskies are almost impossible to stop.

UConn won its 18th straight game played in the Sweet 16 or later when they mounted a most improbable comeback to rally from 19 points down to beat 73-72 Sunday on Braylon Mullins’ last-second 3-pointer.

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The Huskies haven’t lost a tournament game played past the opening weekend since 2009 when they fell in the national semifinals to Michigan State in the Final Four played in Detroit.

Since then, it’s been feast of famine for UConn.

The Huskies have gone to the tournament 10 times since then, failing to get a bid in six other seasons. There was no tournament in 2020 because of the pandemic but UConn wasn’t projected to make it that season.

Of those nine previous tournament trips in this span, the Huskies won it all four times, winning it under coach Jim Calhoun in 2011, Kevin Ollie in 2014 and back-to-back titles under Dan Hurley in 2023-24. In the other five seasons, they didn’t make it to the Sweet 16, losing three times in the round of 64 and twice in the round of 32.

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The 18 straight wins in the Sweet 16 or later are the longest streak since the Sweet 16 started in 1975 when the tournament expanded to 32 teams. Before that expansion, several teams started the tournament in the regional semifinal.

UCLA won a record 38 straight games in the regional semifinals or later during the dynasty under John Wooden — a mark UConn can get halfway to reaching with a win on Saturday against Illinois. The Bruins won it all in 1964 and ’65, missed the tournament the next year, then won seven straight titles before the streak ended with a loss in the national semifinals to David Thompson and N.C. State in 1974.

Only one player remains on the Huskies from those back-to-back title teams with Alex Karaban trying to become the 10th player ever to appear in three NCAA championship game wins. The other nine were all part of the UCLA dynasty,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/uconn-carries-18-game-win-042248603.html

Author : JOSH DUBOW

Publish date : 2026-04-01 04:22:00

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