The road to the record: Geno Auriemma’s 12 biggest coaching wins at UConn

It says everything about UConn‘s Geno Auriemma that a list of his greatest victories could include only national championship games. He has won 11 NCAA titles, more than any other Division I women’s or men’s basketball coach.

On Wednesday, Auriemma could move atop the list of most victories, period. With a win over Fairleigh Dickinson at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut, Auriemma will pass retired Stanford women’s coach Tara VanDerveer with his 1,217th victory. VanDerveer passed Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski (1,202 wins) in January.

When Auriemma took over the Huskies in 1985, the program had only one winning season — at 16-14 — in its 11-year history. The NCAA tournament had been around for only four years for the women. The sport had very little visibility.

It took Auriemma six years to reach his first Final Four, in 1991, and 10 years to win his first championship, in 1995. Now in his 40th season in Storrs, Auriemma’s career mark is 1,216-162. His Huskies have made the Final Four 23 times and had six perfect seasons.

His teams have been part of the biggest rivalries in women’s basketball in the past 30 years, first with Tennessee, then Notre Dame and now South Carolina. Auriemma has coached Team USA to two Olympic gold medals. His former players have led the way in the Olympics and the WNBA. Current Huskies star Paige Bueckers is projected to be the league’s No. 1 pick in April.

Yes, a list of the best victories of Auriemma’s UConn career could consist of just NCAA title games. But other wins along the way, some of them breakthrough moments for the program, also have had special meaning. Here are the 12 biggest.

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UConn on a quest for 12th title

Take a look back at the incredible winning history of UConn women’s basketball as head coach Geno Auriemma and star Paige Bueckers look to put the Huskies back on top.

12. Back-to-back perfection

April 6, 2010: 53-47 over Stanford

It was an ugly game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, but a great final result for the Huskies. Led by Tina Charles and Maya Moore, UConn finished an unprecedented second consecutive perfect season in NCAA women’s basketball by beating the Cardinal in the national championship game.

The Huskies rallied from a woeful 20-12 halftime deficit; 53 is the lowest point total of any of UConn’s championship game victories. (In the Huskies’ one loss in the NCAA final, to South Carolina in 2022, they scored 49 points.) The bottom line: The Huskies found a way to win.

11. “We got Diana”

April 6, 2003: 71-69 over Texas

The Huskies made a stirring rally in the NCAA semifinals to clinch Auriemma’s 500th career victory. UConn had lost four senior stars to the WNBA from the previous season’s undefeated team, but the Huskies still had Diana Taurasi. The Longhorns led by nine points with 12½ minutes to go, but Taurasi’s 3-pointer with just over two minutes left gave UConn the lead for good. She finished with 26 points, and the Huskies then defeated Tennessee 73-68 in the final. And that was the March that Auriemma came up with six words that summed up 2002-03: “We got Diana and you don’t.”

10. Knoxville party crashers

Jan. 6, 1996: 59-53 over Tennessee

This game marked the third meeting in the series with Tennessee; the Huskies won the first two the previous season at home in Storrs and on a neutral court in Minneapolis. This time, as defending national champions, they went into enemy territory and ended the Lady Vols’ 69-game home winning streak. UConn won with defense, holding Tennessee scoreless for a six-minute stretch near the end of the game, which had 21 lead changes.

9. Bueckers has the answers

March 28, 2022: 91-87 over NC State, 2OT

The 2022 Final Four was played in Minneapolis, hometown of guard Paige Bueckers. To get there, she and the Huskies had to outlast the Wolfpack, the No. 1 seed in the regional final, in double overtime in an instant classic. UConn was the No. 2 seed but had the advantage of playing in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It took 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from Bueckers, plus 21 points from Christyn Williams and 19 from Azzi Fudd, for UConn to prevail.

8. Hometown championship celebration

April 2, 2000: 71-52 over Tennessee

This win gave UConn its second NCAA title and came in Auriemma’s hometown of Philadelphia. The rivalry with Tennessee had reached red-hot status, but entering this game, the Lady Vols had six NCAA titles to UConn’s one. Led by juniors Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova and sophomores Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Asjha Jones, UConn was nearly perfect in 1999-2000. The Huskies’ only loss was to Tennessee 72-71 on Feb. 2, 2000, in Storrs. UConn got revenge in Philly.

7. Season of firsts, Part 1

Feb. 18, 1989: 70-65 over Providence

Once upon a time, winning a conference title wasn’t a foregone conclusion for the Huskies — it was cause for celebration. UConn clinched its first Big East regular-season championship with this victory in a season of firsts.

The Huskies beat the Friars again two weeks later for their first Big East tournament title, earning UConn’s first NCAA tournament bid. It was also the first season the Huskies won at least 20 games (24-6) and the first time the program had the Big East player of the year (Kerry Bascom).

6. Stewie’s legend begins

April 7, 2013: 83-65 over Notre Dame

Breanna Stewart announced her intention to win four titles when she came to UConn. She did it, but the first was the most challenging because of the semifinal foe: Notre Dame had defeated UConn three times that season. After losing to the Irish in the Big East tournament final, Auriemma told his despondent team that he would show them how to win the NCAA title. Then a freshman, Stewart had 29 points and four blocked shots against Notre Dame, and then UConn won the championship in New Orleans with a 33-point rout of Louisville.

5. Season of firsts, Part 2

March 23, 1991: 60-57 over Clemson

The Huskies got their first win over a ranked team in December of that season, then won their first NCAA tournament game in March. They rode that momentum all the way to their first Final Four. It came with this victory in Philadelphia over Clemson. Bascom had 22 points, making 7 of 8 free throws in the last 1:09 of the game. Clemson cut the Huskies’ lead to 59-57 with six seconds left, but Meghan Pattyson’s free throw gave UConn a three-point lead. The Tigers then missed a desperation 3-pointer.

4. Stewie seals her legacy

April 5, 2016: 82-51 over Syracuse

The Huskies bulldozed their way to a perfect season, clobbering the Orange in the NCAA final in Indianapolis. Stewart won the Final Four’s most outstanding player award for the fourth time. The team’s 38-0 mark was part of UConn’s record 111-game winning streak that began in 2014 and ended in the 2017 national semifinal.

3. Greatest team ever?

March 31, 2002: 82-70 over Oklahoma

The Huskies put the finishing touches on a 39-0 season in the Alamodome against the Sooners, winning Auriemma’s third NCAA title. Seniors Bird, Cash, Jones and Tamika Williams, who were all selected in the first round of the 2002 WNBA draft, joined then-sophomore Taurasi on what many consider the best starting five in women’s college basketball history.

2. The rivalry begins

Jan. 16, 1995: 77-66 over Tennessee

This game, held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and nationally televised that Monday afternoon, was the first meeting in what became a legendary rivalry in college sports. The Associated Press delayed its poll voting for one day (it’s usually done on Sunday night) to account for the result of the game. The Lady Vols were 16-0 and ranked No. 1, the Huskies 12-0 and No. 2.

UConn led 41-33 at halftime, and never let Tennessee get closer than four points in the second half. Kara Wolters had a team-high 18 points, Jennifer Rizzotti had 17 and Rebecca Lobo 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 blocked shots. The UConn fans didn’t want to leave Gampel Pavilion when it was over.

1. We are the champions

April 2, 1995: 70-64 over Tennessee

Auriemma’s dynasty officially was launched with this victory, as the Huskies finished a 35-0 season with their first championship. The final in Minneapolis was UConn’s second-closest game that season; the closest had come in the regional final, 67-63 over Virginia. UConn trounced Stanford in the national semifinals, and Tennessee did the same to Georgia. It set up a rematch of the January showdown that had received so much attention.

This was the last season the women’s Final Four games were played on back-to-back days, so there was little preparation time for the final. Tennessee led by six at halftime, as Lobo battled foul trouble in the first half. But she had 11 of her 17 points in the second half, with Rizzotti adding 15. The championship elevated UConn into a full-fledged phenomenon that’s still going strong nearly 30 years later.