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No. 89 was emotional and rewarding for Huskies
The UConn women's basketball team is very good at many things, post-game celebrations are not usually one of them, however.
When you win as often and as convincingly as the Huskies do, it's understandable that they don't exactly screams to the heavens after every win. A little glimpse of how much this winning streak means to the Huskies came out after Sunday's win over Ohio State. After Tuesday's 93-62 victory over Florida State, which gave the Huskies an NCAA Division I basketball record 89 straight wins, Maya Moore could be seen jumping up and down like a child on Christmas morning. Tiffany Hayes simply could not come up with the words as the Huskies moved by the 1971-74 UCLA men's basketball team to post the longest basketball winning streak during the NCAA era. UConn coach Geno Auriemma took it a step closer, giving Bria Hartley a kiss to express his absolute delight with the game she was having.
"That is why we play the games," Auriemma said. "It doesn't matter how many you win and what your record is. You play so you have that feeling afte the game and you played well, everyone contributed. You feel good about what you just did. What gets lost sometimes in all of these wins and sometimes players do forget to do that. You want to make sure it isn't 'ho hum, this doesn't mean anything.' It is pretty significant to those kids because they have heard so much about it, what it all means. I know they were excited all day today. I am constantly amazed at these kids and what they are able to do under the circumstances they are put in."
Greg Wooden, the grandson of the late UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden, was among those in attendance as was former UConn great Tina Charles, who played a major role in leading UConn to the first 78 games in the 89-game run.
"It is really special," said Moore, who had a career-high 41 points on Tuesday. "Just to see Tina and how much of an impact she has made in the previous two seasons, have John Wooden's grandson to come in and show respect for our team, it meant the world to us. You should have seen my face when he was talkng to us. It was a really big moment. The way he came and honored our team, it shows the connection between great programs recognizing each other and celebrating together."
Next up is a Dec. 28 game at Pacific followed by a much-anticipated game at No. 2 Stanford on Dec. 30.
When you win as often and as convincingly as the Huskies do, it's understandable that they don't exactly screams to the heavens after every win. A little glimpse of how much this winning streak means to the Huskies came out after Sunday's win over Ohio State. After Tuesday's 93-62 victory over Florida State, which gave the Huskies an NCAA Division I basketball record 89 straight wins, Maya Moore could be seen jumping up and down like a child on Christmas morning. Tiffany Hayes simply could not come up with the words as the Huskies moved by the 1971-74 UCLA men's basketball team to post the longest basketball winning streak during the NCAA era. UConn coach Geno Auriemma took it a step closer, giving Bria Hartley a kiss to express his absolute delight with the game she was having.
"That is why we play the games," Auriemma said. "It doesn't matter how many you win and what your record is. You play so you have that feeling afte the game and you played well, everyone contributed. You feel good about what you just did. What gets lost sometimes in all of these wins and sometimes players do forget to do that. You want to make sure it isn't 'ho hum, this doesn't mean anything.' It is pretty significant to those kids because they have heard so much about it, what it all means. I know they were excited all day today. I am constantly amazed at these kids and what they are able to do under the circumstances they are put in."
Greg Wooden, the grandson of the late UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden, was among those in attendance as was former UConn great Tina Charles, who played a major role in leading UConn to the first 78 games in the 89-game run.
"It is really special," said Moore, who had a career-high 41 points on Tuesday. "Just to see Tina and how much of an impact she has made in the previous two seasons, have John Wooden's grandson to come in and show respect for our team, it meant the world to us. You should have seen my face when he was talkng to us. It was a really big moment. The way he came and honored our team, it shows the connection between great programs recognizing each other and celebrating together."
Next up is a Dec. 28 game at Pacific followed by a much-anticipated game at No. 2 Stanford on Dec. 30.
posted by Jim Fuller at
11:28 PM
2 Comments:
UConn has obviously drawn a lot of attention to WCBB with their record streak, although not all positive.
I think the next best thing for WCBB would be for both UConn and Baylor to run the table from right now.
An unbeaten UConn team versus a Baylor team with 1 loss by 1 point for the NCAA championship could rival the attention of the UCLA-Houston epic showdown in the Astrodome.
Next up for UConn, the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Maya Moore and Tiffany Hayes are the only players to play in each of the 89 consecutive wins, BUT ...
Never forget what Renee Montgomery, the coach on the floor, contributed to the first 39 straight wins.
Never forget what Tina Charles, POY, contributed to the first 78 straight wins.
UConn Women's Basketball has always been a Team First program.
The moment any star player thinks otherwise ...
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