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South Carolina’s 71-Game Home Win Streak Comes to an Ugly End vs. UConn

The No. 7 Huskies dispatched the No. 4 Gamecocks by 29 points on the road.

Tim Capurso

Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts drives around Huskies guard Paige Bueckers.
Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts drives around Huskies guard Paige Bueckers. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images
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In a women's college basketball stunner, the defending-national champion—and No. 4-ranked—South Carolina Gamecocks' 71-game winning streak at home in the Colonial Life Arena came to an end after the program's 87-58 defeat at the hands of the No. 7-ranked UConn Huskies on Sunday.

The last time the Gamecocks, who have won two of the last three national championships and went undefeated during its title-winning 2023-24 season, lost at home was in December of 2020 against the NC State Wolfpack.

On the strength of its defense, sharpshooting from beyond the arc and an up-tempo offense, the Huskies raced out to a 45-23 lead, which they took into the locker room at halftime. The 25-point deficit represented the largest faced by the Gamecocks at home in over three years.

UConn senior Paige Bueckers shot just 3-for-12 from the field in an off-shooting day for the projected top pick in the 2025 WNBA draft—and the Huskies still rolled to victory, thanks to a game-high 28 points and six triples from fellow senior Azzi Fudd.

In addition to snapping South Carolina's home winning streak, the win represented UConn's first victory against a top-five team on the road since 2018.

Prior to tip-off of the game, South Carolina had earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee's unveiling of the top 16 seeds, a glimpse at what the official bracket could look like on Selection Sunday come March 16.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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