This is a list of notable winning streaks in basketball. Oklahoma City University Men’s Basketball (NAIA) has the longest win streak in men’s college basketball in the past 50 years. The 1990-91 and 1991-92 OCU Chiefs won 56 straight games en route to consecutive NAIA National Championships. The 1991 Championship team had a record of 35-3 while the 1992 team had a perfect 38-0 record winning back to back national titles.
The NBA record is listed below, and for further information see List of NBA longest winning streaks.
Early competitions
Edmonton Grads The Grads were a semi-professional women's basketball team from Canada from 1915 to 1940. They had a lifetime winning percentage of 95% and had several winning streaks of dozens of games each including every game they played at the 1924 Paris Olympics (where basketball was a demonstration sport).
FIBA
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.Argentina defeats NBA-laden Team USA USA Today, 4 September 2002
NCAA streaks
On January 19, 1974, the UCLA Bruins lost a basketball game to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 71–70. It ended a streak of 88 consecutive victories, which coincidentally began after losing to Notre Dame exactly three years earlier on January 19, 1971. The streak encompassed 88 games, an NCAA division I basketball record eclipsing the 60 game streak of San Francisco in 1956. The streak is still an active Division I men's basketball streak, but the Division I basketball streak was matched when the University of Connecticut women's basketball team won a game against Ohio State on December 19, 2010, and the old record was eclipsed when the team won their 89th consecutive victory against Florida State on December 21, 2010. UConn's streak ended at 90 games, after losing to Stanford, who was the last team to beat UConn before the start of the streak. 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.
San Francisco – men's basketball – 60 games
In 1950, Phil Woolpert, a high school coach at the time, took over as head basketball coach of the San Francisco Dons when Pete Newell left to coach Michigan State University. The school had no gym, and arranged for practices at a nearby high school. The team went 44–48 in its first four seasons, and was not expected to be very good in the 1954–1955 season.
The team started off the season with three wins, then lost to UCLA 47–40. They would go on to win 60 consecutive games, including two national championships, and the first undefeated seasons in NCAA basketball history. Two of the players on the squad for the first 55 games of the streak, Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, became stars for the Boston Celtics.
After winning their second national championship in 1956, Russell and Jones graduated. The team then won five more games. Before the streak officially ended, they lost a game, when they took on the US Olympic team. Both Russell and Jones were on the Olympic team. The streak ended officially on December 17, 1956, when Illinois beat San Francisco 62–33.
UCLA streak – men's basketball – 88 games
When the 1970–71 basketball season started, the reigning national champion was UCLA, having won its sixth championship in the spring. They started the season with a five-game winning streak from the previous season, and would win their next thirteen games, reaching a winning streak of 18 games. In addition to the consecutive wins streak, the UCLA team had won 49 consecutive games against non-conference opponents.
However, on January 23, 1971, UCLA played Notre Dame at Notre Dame. Austin Carr scored 46 points, leading the Irish to an 89–82 victory. Six days later, UCLA would win their next game against Santa Barbara, the start of the new win streak. The following game was against their local rival USC, who was undefeated at the time, and ranked number two in polls, one position ahead of UCLA at number three. UCLA won the contest 64–60, and would go on to win the rest of the games that season, winning their fifth consecutive National Championship (seventh overall) and pushing their winning streak to 15 games. There was little attention to the streak at the time. The existing NCAA Division I basketball record was 60 games, and UCLA itself had had longer streaks in its history, winning 47 consecutive games during Lew Alcindor's time. In addition, the media attention was more focused on the NBA-ABA bidding wars, as the professional leagues were attempting to entice college players to join the professional ranks.
Interest in the streak grew late in the 1971–72 season, when it reached 40 games. The media reports of the games began including the streak count in the headline about this time. By the end of the season, the UCLA team had won another national championship and stretched the streak to 45 games. In the following season, Coach John Wooden acknowledged the streak, but tried to downplay it. According to Bruins guard Greg Lee, "Tonight, Coach Wooden did mention our long win streak, but told us not to think about it. Speaking for the team, I know I'm not thinking about it. I don't worry about losing when I go to bed."
San Francisco, the holders of the record at the time, had chances to end the streak, but they lost twice, accounting for wins 58 and 73. After UCLA tied the 60-game NCAA Division I record, the following game was against Notre Dame. The Irish lost by 19. Win number 75 was the National Championship of the 1972–73 season. 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. However, Walton returned for his senior year.
In the 1973–74 season, UCLA had a close call against Maryland, but ended up winning by a single point for win number 77. They won number 79 against North Carolina State by 18 points, although they would later lose to the eventual national champions in the NCAA semifinals, the first team other than UCLA to win the national title since 1966.
On January 19, 1974, UCLA played Notre Dame after beating Iowa 66–44 for its 88th consecutive victory. UCLA had beaten Notre Dame during the streak, although the streak started after a Notre Dame win in 1971. Digger Phelps, the 32-year-old coach of Notre Dame, decided to change his game plan from his previous strategy. The strategy largely worked. Although Walton hit 12 of 14 shots, the UCLA team was not often able to lob the ball into Walton. Even during the game, the eventual outcome was far from obvious. The Bruins outplayed the Irish in the opening minutes, building a 17-point lead. The Bruins held a 70–59 lead with under four minutes to go in the game, but the Irish ended the game on a 12–0 run, winning 71–70, and ending the longest NCAA Division I men's basketball streak at 88 games.
UConn streak – women's basketball – 70 games
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 had only lost two games during the regular season, once to Tennessee, and once to Notre Dame, each of whom were number one seeds in the tournament. However, the UConn squad had lost Svetlana Abrosimova, an All-American who would be drafted seventh in the WNBA draft, to a season-ending foot injury. 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 depleted UConn squad won their first four games to advance to the Final Four in St. Louis. Their opening game was against Notre Dame, a team they had lost to in the regular season, but had beaten to win the Big East Championship game. 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. That would be the last game they would lose until 2003.
UConn started the 2001–02 season with two relatively easy wins, beating Fairfield on November 9, 2001, 93–50, and two days, later, beating FIU 91–47. Next up was perennial power North Carolina, but the Huskies prevailed 94–74. In December, they beat Oklahoma 86–72, the closest game of the season to that point. The next challenge was Tennessee in January 2002, but UConn won 86–72. UConn continued to win throughout the season, ending the regular season with a record of 30–0.
They won the rest of the Big East Conference matches easily, and entered the NCAA tournament as a number 1 seed. The semi-final game was against a two seed, Tennessee, but the game was not close, with UConn winning 79–56. The national championship game was against Oklahoma. The game was close until the final seconds, with UConn winning its third national championship, completing its second undefeated season, and finishing the year with a 39–0 record.
The 2002–03 season opened with a win over Wright State 85–39. 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. UConn would again prevail, winning 73–60 for their 44th consecutive win. The biggest challenge to the streak would come in the 51st game, a home game against Tennessee. The game would go into overtime, with UConn prevailing by a single point 63–62. The following game against Rutgers would also be close, but UConn won 67–62.
UConn played a strong Duke squad at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 1, 2003, but managed to win 77–65. They finished up the regular season without a loss, and reached the Big East Tournament with a 68-game winning streak. 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. This game would turn out much differently, with Villanova achieving an upset, knocking the UConn team out of the Big East Tournament, and ending the NCAA women's basketball win streak at 70 games.
UConn streak – women's basketball – 90 games
The loss before the streak begins The 2007–08 season started with a lot of promise. UConn faced fourth-ranked Stanford in the Virgin Islands, but won 66–54. The team would reach the end of the regular season with only a single loss, at Rutgers 73–71, then won the rematch at home 66–46. However, the team lost two starters to injury, Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas. UConn won the first four games of the NCAA tournament, but then faced a rematch with Stanford, who won the semifinal game 82–73. That would prove to be the last loss for some time.
2008–09 season (wins 39-0)
UConn opened the season against Georgia Tech, a team unranked in the pre-season. The game was tied at the half; UConn went on to win by eleven. The fifth game of the season was against Oklahoma, a team ranked number 4 in the polls. Characterized as a "significant test" by ESPN's Graham Hays, Connecticut would win easily by 28 points, 106–78.
After winning their first 17 games, Connecticut faced the number two ranked team in the nation North Carolina, also 17–0 for the season. UConn was ranked number one, but had just lost starter Caroline Doty to a season-ending knee injury in the prior game. Despite the loss of Doty, the game did not turn out to be the close game anticipated. UConn reached a double-digit lead early in the game, extended to a 46-30 halftime lead, and finished with a 30-point victory, 88–58. 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.