The United States men's national basketball team had a 58-game winning streak from the 1992 Olympic Games to the 2002 FIBA World Championship.
It ended a streak of 88 consecutive victories, which coincidentally began after losing to Notre Dame exactly three years earlier on January 19, 1971.
That was the longest winning streak in Division I College Basketball history for seven years, until UConn surpassed it after they won their 91st straight game.
UConn's 2nd winning streak ended at 111 straight after losing to Mississippi State on March 31, 2017, in the semi-finals of the NCAA tournament 66–64 in overtime.
According to Bruins guard Greg Lee, "Tonight, Coach Wooden did mention our long win streak, but told us not to think about it.
Immediately after the game, rather than staying to celebrate, junior Bill Walton headed to a meeting with Sam Gilbert to discuss a possible offer from the Philadelphia 76ers for a reported $2 million.
[4][6] In March 2001, UConn had won their second national championship a year earlier, and was headed to the NCAA tournament as a number 1 seed.
They also lost the 2000 Sports Illustrated Player of the Year, Shea Ralph, to a season-ending knee injury during the Big East tournament final.
The UConn team had a twelve-point lead going into halftime of the semi-final game, but fell behind in the second half, and lost to the eventual National Champion.
They won the rest of the Big East Conference matches easily, and entered the NCAA tournament as a number 1 seed.
After beating North Carolina State, UConn traveled to Hawai'i, where they would meet their prior year National Championship opponent in the final of the Rainbow Wahine Classic.
They won their first two games in the Big East Tournament easily, then faced Villanova, a team they had beaten in January by twenty points, 58–38.
UConn was ranked number one, but had just lost starter Caroline Doty to a season-ending knee injury in the prior game.
All five starters, including Lorin Dixon in her first start of the season, would each score in double digits, led by Renee Montgomery with 21.
[12] During the rest of the regular season, only Notre Dame and Rutgers played UConn to within ten points, with each team losing by exactly 10.
The team added one freshman, Kelly Faris, and Caroline Doty returned to the line-up after missing most of the prior season due to injury.
The win by UConn was the 81st consecutive, tying Washington University, a Division III team, for the longest streak in NCAA women's basketball.
[28] UConn then went on to beat the other two opponents in the Classic, Lehigh and LSU and then extended the streak to 87 games with wins over South Florida, Sacred Heart and Marquette.
[29] On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, UConn hosted Florida State in Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
"[6] Dwight Clay, the Notre Dame player who hit the winning shot to end the UCLA streak: "Well, I think it's great.
During this streak, UConn made history by being the first team in NCAA Division I women's basketball to win four consecutive championships.
The all-games streak ended at 111 wins on March 31, 2017, following a last-second 66–64 OT loss to Mississippi State in the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA women's tournament.
The NCAA record for consecutive home victories was held by the Tennessee Lady Vols, set in 1996, and ended by the UConn Huskies.
The two senior starters on the Baylor team, Odyssey Sims, the nation's scoring leader, and Makenzie Robertson, daughter of head coach Kim Mulkey, had never lost a game at the Ferrell Center.
[38] On February 16, 2025, UConn defeated South Carolina in Columbia to end the Gamecocks' 71 game home win streak, by a score of 87-58.
[48] The Lady Wesmen would go on to a record 118–1 in the span from 1992 to 1995, including 3 CIS (now U Sports) national basketball championships and beating several NCAA Women's Division I programs in North American tournaments.
The North Central High School Jets, coached by Adam Mercer, in the small town of Powers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, also had a long winning streak.
[53] The Baskin High School women's basketball team holds the record for longest winning streak in organized sports.
In the span of ten years, the Lady Rams led by Hall of Fame coach, Edna "Tiny" Tarbutton, would go 315 and 2 with 9 state titles and an average winning margin of more than 30 points.
The 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers won 33 consecutive games without a loss, the longest undefeated streak in NBA history.