Geno turns into 2nd on all-time wins checklist in UConn’s win over Creighton

HARTFORD, Conn. — UConn coach Geno Auriemma broke a tie with Mike Krzyzewski for second-most wins by a head coach in Division I males’s or ladies’s school basketball on Monday as his group took care of No. 21 Creighton with a 73-53 victory.

Auriemma now boasts 1,203 profession wins, all of which had been at UConn. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is the one coach forward of him with 1,209 profession wins throughout stints at Idaho, Ohio State and Stanford.

“I feel earlier in my profession, to be trustworthy with you, as issues had been occurring that had been very important, they impacted me much more. However possibly the amount of issues which have occurred … I simply take it in stride,” Auriemma stated after the No. 15 Huskies’ win. “You are so fixated on profitable, and also you’re always being reminded each recreation of what number of issues your group’s not good at … you are simply so fixated on the issues you must repair, the issues you must right. I am certain there will be a time, this summer season or subsequent summer season or no matter it’s, if you assume again and it will actually have a huge effect on you.”

Auriemma, who turns 70 in March, is in his thirty ninth season in Storrs, having taken the reins forward of the 1985-86 marketing campaign and turned this system right into a powerhouse with unparalleled dominance spanning many years. Lots of his 1,203 wins got here from six undefeated seasons, two win streaks of 90 or extra video games, and 11 nationwide championship runs, probably the most of any coach within the sport’s historical past.

Auriemma did say he appreciates profitable in a different way now than he used to given the rash of accidents which have clouded the Huskies program occurring three seasons now. UConn presently is with out 5 gamers due to harm, all of whom had been anticipated to be important rotation items or starters.

“I am most likely like a variety of our followers. We made it look really easy. It was by no means straightforward. However we made it look really easy for therefore lengthy that you just virtually neglect,” Auriemma stated. “For me now, it is like going again to the ’80s and ’90s the place you needed to play nice and also you knew that each recreation that you just gained was particular. I’ve all the time stated the one factor worse than dropping is profitable on a regular basis.”

UConn had been to 14 consecutive Closing Fours earlier than its streak was snapped this previous NCAA event with a loss to Ohio State within the Candy 16, capping a season by which former nationwide participant of the 12 months Paige Bueckers was sidelined with an ACL tear. Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards are the centerpiece of this 12 months’s shorthanded group, and the previous has already dedicated to forgoing the WNBA draft to return to Storrs subsequent season.

With their victory over Creighton — who entered the competition having gained 11 straight — Auriemma has guided the Huskies (23-5) to their eleventh straight and thirtieth general convention regular-season title, an undefeated file in Large East play, and a prime seed within the convention event subsequent month. UConn is presently slated as a No. 3 seed in ESPN’s newest bracketology for the NCAA event.

“I instructed the group in the present day, this was one of many extra gratifying [wins], and we have a good time wins extra now than we used to,” Auriemma stated. “Possibly if we had all 14 of our gamers, possibly we might simply be like we have all the time been right here at UConn, however what we have gone by means of the final couple of years, you admire it far more, far more, and also you admire your gamers extra.”

VanDerveer has indicated her retirement isn’t imminent, saying she’s excited to teach within the ACC subsequent season when Stanford switched conferences. Auriemma hasn’t expressed a agency timeline for when he’d step away, usually speaking about how he’d realize it was time to take action if UConn wasn’t in a position to get the gamers it desires anymore. He confirmed Friday he’d be again subsequent season together with Bueckers.

“The fervour and the desirous to win and the power that goes into it, the sensation like this earlier than each recreation, it is the identical because it was within the ’80s, however I simply assume it means a bit of extra now,” Auriemma stated. “It is like when you might have all of it and someone takes it away from you, if you get it again, you have a tendency to understand it extra.”