CHAPTER THREE
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- and Head to Head Competition
Dissecting the UT vs UCONN record
Perhaps the greatest single record that mars the impeccable history of Tennessee Women's Basketball is that record marked 9 and 13NINE wins vs THIRTEEN losses between Geno's UConn and Pat's Tennessee. How did this happen and what are the underlying factors that led to this result?
Jan. 6, 2007
Huskies: No. 5Lady Vols: No. 4
Tennessee 70Connecticut 64(At Hartford, Conn.)
Candace Parker nets 30 points (including a second-half dunk), 12 rebounds and six blocks. Led by Charde Houston's 23 points, UConn erases an 18-point deficit but still falls short.
Jan. 7, 2006
Huskies: No. 7Lady Vols: 1
Tennessee 89,Connecticut 80(At Knoxville, Tenn.)
Lady Vols pull away in final minutes for their second straight win in the series after six consecutive losses.
Jan. 8, 2005
Huskies: No. 15Lady Vols: No. 10
Tennessee 68Connecticut 67(At Hartford, Conn.)
Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood converts three-point play with 15 seconds left for 68-66 lead. UConn's Ann Strother then misses 2-of-3 foul shots and UT ends six-game skid.
April 6, 2004
Huskies: No. 6Lady Vols: 2
Connecticut 70,Tennessee 61(At New Orleans)
UConn becomes second team to threepeat with Diana Taurasi (21.6 career average vs. Lady Vols) again leading way.
Feb. 5, 2004
Huskies: No. 4Lady Vols: No. 1
Connecticut 81,Tennessee 67(At Knoxville, Tenn.)
UConn plays solid and steady, and grinds out win in physical battle. Diana Taurasi scores 18 before fouling out in final minute.
April 8, 2003
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 4
Connecticut 73,Tennessee 68(At Atlanta)
UConn hits 10 treys and shoots 51 percent from field. Diana Taurasi scores 28 points as Huskies repeat.
Jan. 4, 2003
Huskies: No. 3Lady Vols: No. 5
Connecticut 63,Tennessee 62 OT(At Hartford, Conn.)
Diana Taurasi's 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left sends game into overtime. UConn goes on to win 51st straight game.
March 29, 2002
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 6
Connecticut 79,Tennessee 56(At San Antonio)
UConn posts its largest margin of victory in the series in front of the largest crowd in women's history (29,619).
Jan. 5, 2002
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 2
Connecticut 86,Tennessee 72(At Tennessee)
Sophomore Diana Taurasi explodes for 32 points; Lady Vols miss 45 of 72 shots from field in front of record 24,611 fans.
Feb. 1, 2001
Huskies: No. 2Lady Vols: No. 3
Tennessee 92,Connecticut 88(At Tennessee)
Sophomore Gwen Jackson tallies 28 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in one of top games in rivalry.
Dec. 30, 2000
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 2
Connecticut 81,Tennessee 76(At Hartford, Conn.)
Lady Vols rally from 17-point deficit to cut lead to three with one minute left, but Sue Bird wins it with late free throws.
April 2, 2000
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 2
Connecticut 71,Tennessee 52(At Philadelphia)
Huskies take third meeting of season, win second NCAA title and end season with 36-1 mark and 17-game win streak.
Feb. 2, 2000
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 4
Tennessee 72,Connecticut 71(At Connecticut)
After trailing by six at half, Semeka Randall sinks winner with 4.4 seconds left for Huskies' only loss of season.
Jan. 8, 2000
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 2
Connecticut 74,Tennessee 67(At Tennessee)
Sue Bird scores career-high 25 points. Vols shoot just 33.8 percent from field and go 14-for-33 from foul line.
Jan. 10, 1999
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 2
Tennessee 92,Connecticut 81(At Connecticut)
After Lady Vols beat country's top-ranked team, teams swap spots in top 25. Holdsclaw, Randall each score 25.
Jan. 3, 1998
Lady Vols: No. 1Huskies: No. 3
Tennessee 84,Connecticut 69(At Tennessee)
Tennessee winning streak reaches 21 on way to perfect 39-0 record, third consecutive NCAA title.
March 24, 1997
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 10
Tennessee 91,Connecticut 81(At Iowa City, Iowa)
Entering postseason with 10 losses, third-seeded Vols win Midwest final matchup en route to NCAA title.
Jan. 5, 1997
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 8
Connecticut 72,Tennessee 57(At Hartford, Conn.)
Vols suffer regular-season losses to La. Tech, Stanford, Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, Florida and ODU.
March 29, 1996
Huskies: No. 2Lady Vols: No. 4
Tennessee 88,UConn 83 (OT)(At Charlotte, N.C.)
In battle of No. 1 seeds, Vols eliminate Huskies in national semifinals to win first of three straight NCAA titles.
Jan. 6, 1996
Huskies: No. 2Lady Vols: No. 4
Connecticut 59,Tennessee 53(At Tennessee)
Vols lose just four games during '96 title run, but this UConn win snaps UT's record 69-game home win streak.
April 2, 1995
Huskies: No. 1Lady Vols: No. 3
Connecticut 70,Tennessee 64(At Minneapolis)
UConn (35-0) wins national championship to become second team in NCAA history to post undefeated season.
Jan. 16, 1995
Lady Vols: No. 1Huskies: No. 2
Connecticut 77,Tennessee 66(At Connecticut)
Huskies take first-ever meeting in series that becomes women's college basketball's greatest rivalry.
The explanation is simple and straight forward. Tennesse went 1 and 7 vs UConn during the tenure of Diana Taurasi. Tennesse was good enough to make the Final Four during the Taurasi era losing to the Huskies in San Antonio, Atlanta, and New Orleans for 2 losses per year.
On the flip side when Tennessee has had the upper hand in 1997 and 1998 with the Championship teams of Chamique Holdsclaw; UConn wasn't good enough to make the Final Four. The same is true for 2 of the past 3 years when Tennesse made it to Indianapolis and Cleveland but UConn failed to get out of the regional .
UCONN fans like to brag that UCONN hasn't lost a head to head NC game to Tennessee Problem with that is that UConn hasn't made it far enough to suffer those probable losses because they weren't good enough to make the title games when Tennessee was fielding the superior teams.
Tennesssee fans should concede the fact that the teams of the Taursi era and TASS were the best teams of their time. Tennnessee was clearly second best during those years. But when Tennessee was fielding the greatest teams of the late 90's UConn couldn't get to the game. The same has been true since Diana left UConn.
The one year that was a stinging disappointment for Lady Vol fans was 2004 when Tennessee was actually ranked above UConn yet lost to Diana in her Senior year twice.
Another way to see this relationship clearly is in the overall NCAA Tournament Record
TENNESSEE
26 NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES - NOT ONE SINGLE NON-APPEARANCE26 SWEET SIXTEEN APPEARANCES
18 FINAL FOUR APPEARANCES
12 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
7 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
5 RUNNER UPS
5 THIRD PLACE
A 98 AND 19 RECORD IN NCAA GAMES
CONNECTICUT
19 NCAA TOURNAMENTS8 FINAL FOURS
5 CHAMPIONSHIPS
3 THIRD PLACE
A 61 AND 14 RECORD IN NCAA GAMES
Every record has a back story and underlying factors that tell the tale of how that record was made. The Tennessee UConn record swung heavily in UConn's favor during the Taurasi era. Tennessee is a victim of it's own success in making this record. The Lady Vols played second best to number one UConn for four years. For Tennessee fans it's too bad that UConn couldn't make the NCAA final fours in the years where Tennessee was clearly the better team.
Since the UConn vs Tennessee head to head series has now ended this may be the last time it is appropriate to bring up this subject on the SUmmiTT. My apologies to those of you who are tired of the UConn story. My hope is that this will summarize the history of the rivalry that is now history and put it into perspective.
