UConn falls to Villanova, ending 145-game conference win streak dating back to 2013

For the first time in nearly a decade, Geno Auriemma and UConn dropped a conference basketball game on Wednesday night.

Villanova knocked off No. 8 UConn 72-69 in Hartford, Connecticut, officially snapping the Huskies’ 145-game conference regular-season win streak that dated back to 2013.

“Games have to be won, they’re not pre-ordained,” Auriemma said, via ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel. “You’ve got to lose at some point, otherwise you’re not in a good conference. Losing to a good team like Villanova, they deserved to win.

“I thought today, they were way more physical than us. They just worked harder at it. This was just not a good day. Losing is part of basketball, and you have to figure out how it happened and then move on and get ready for the next one.”

UConn hadn’t lost in regular-season conference play since falling to Notre Dame in 2013. It then lost to the Irish in the Big East title game that season, but beat the Irish in the national championship.

UConn then won its next 145 regular-season games, and 169 games including conference tournament games, until Wednesday night spanning their time in the American Athletic Conference and the Big East. UConn never lost to a conference opponent in its seven seasons in the AAC.

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The Huskies were without center Olivia Nelson-Ododa on Wednesday, who missed the game due to illness. Carolina Ducharme is still sidelined with a head injury, and star Paige Bueckers hasn’t played since early December with a knee injury.

With that shortened lineup, UConn struggled. The Huskies never led in the contest, and opened on the wrong side of a 22-7 run. Though they nearly made a last-second push, cutting a 15-point deficit to three points in the final three minutes, it was too late.

Azzi Fudd led UConn with 29 points while shooting 11-of-20 from the field, and Christyn Williams dropped 24 points. They were the only two Huskies to score in double figures, and two of only six players who saw the court.

Lior Garzon led Villanova with 19 points, and Maddy Siegrist finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. The Wildcats shot nearly 52% from the field in the win, which marked their eighth straight.

Villanova hadn’t won a game at Connecticut since 1993, when head coach Denise Dillon was a freshman.