If history is any indicator, the 2026-26 UConn women’s basketball team is one of the best the sport has ever seen.
With a road win at DePaul on Wednesday, the Huskies tied the 10th longest winning streak in the NCAA era with 40 consecutive victories. Every team to log 40-plus wins in a row has earned at least one national championship during its run, and the four past UConn squads who accomplished the feat all brought home at least two.
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It was also the team’s 60th straight win in Big East play and its 19th in a row by at least 25 points, the longest streak by any team in the 21st century.
But all coach Geno Auriemma could see in the No. 1 Huskies’ 46-point rout of the Blue Demons were the low moments, miscues that were ultimately irrelevant to the final results. He saw stagnation in the half-court offense, sloppiness from the post players and limited contributions from the bench.
“You’re trying really, really hard to nitpick things that are going to be an issue in the tournament,” Auriemma said. “There’s an old saying, only the painter knows the warts on his painting. Somebody could be looking at a perfect masterpiece, but the guy who painted it is going ‘Man, I hope nobody notices that little spot there that I screwed up.’ So we’re constantly looking for little things we can get better at.”
Auriemma understands the expectation is intense and at times unreasonable, but he also knows it’s the reason the Huskies are chasing back-to-back national championships for the seventh time in program history. The players who returned from last year’s title team saw the process work, and they’re hungry to make it happen again.
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“One of the issues with playing at Connecticut is you’re judged a lot of times by whether you won a national championship, or how many you’ve won,” Auriemma said. “Last year they finally won one, so I think they walk around now with a sense of accomplishment. They’ll go down in history as a part of the UConn legacy, and they want to add to it. They want to build on it. The thing I see mostly now is way more confidence than at this time last year.”
UConn likely won’t face another truly competitive opponent again until at least the regional rounds of March Madness, nearly two months away. It’s been almost three years since the last time the Huskies lost a Big East game, and the conference is so weak this season that it could be left out of the at-large bids in this year’s tournament. Villanova, the No. 2 team in the Big East, is currently projected on the bubble by ESPN with third-place Seton Hall in the first four out.
The pressure will have to come from within for the Huskies as they prepare for their next matchup at PeoplesBank Arena on Saturday against Butler. The first time the teams met on Dec. 28 in Indianapolis, UConn dominated 94-47 with 48 points coming off of 29 forced turnovers against the Bulldogs.
“Coach makes it a challenge for us every single day in practice, whether we’re competing against each other or our practice guys, just making sure that we never settle, never get complacent,” Huskies star Azzi Fudd said. “Our goal is to get a little big better every single day, and no matter who our opponent is, we’re coming into every game with the same mindset. … It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’ve got to take care of ourselves first.”
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One of Auriemma’s top priorities down the stretch of the regular season is to continue developing the frontcourt, especially because he wants to give Sarah Strong the freedom to lean into her more guard-like skillset. Auriemma also said he’s seen things he likes from all three of his more traditional post players. He praised senior center Serah Williams’ improvement as a passer, and redshirt sophomore Jana El Alfy’s aggression, and he also called redshirt sophomore Ayanna Patterson the most athletic forward of the group. But he wants to see all three make a bigger impact, both offensively and defensively.
UConn has also been without forward Blanca Quinonez for three games due to a shoulder injury, though Auriemma said she’s not expected to miss extended time and “looked good” in her workouts this week. The freshman is the team’s third-leading scorer averaging 10.7 points plus 3.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and her absence has highlighted what the Huskies need from their other bigs.
“We’re always trying to find out where does the other big kid fit in, and if they’re out there by themselves with four guards, four people on the perimeter, how can they help us?” Auriemma said. “(Wednesday) we turned the ball over like five times trying to throw it into post (on) bad decisions or just bad execution. So we’ve got to get production from our big guys other than Sarah at both ends of the floor. They’ve got to be good defensively, protect the basket, and they’ve got to be able to catch it and get a bucket for us. … If we can figure out where they fit, I think that’d be a big help for us going forward.”
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How to watch
Site: PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford
Time/date: Noon, Saturday
Team records: UConn 24-0 (13-0), Butler 9-14 (3-10)
Series record: UConn leads 9-0
Last meeting: 94-47 UConn, Dec. 28 in Indianapolis
TV: FS1
Streaming: HBO Max
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9
