HARTFORD, CONN. (AP) - Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma says the 80-game winning streak belongs not to his current crop of players, but those who wore the uniform during the past two championship seasons.
On Tuesday night, many of those players and other former Huskies gathered around TVs and computers from Hartford to Spain to watch UConn extend the streak with a thrilling 65-64 win over Baylor. And they shared that experience with each other, via Twitter.
They trash talked, did a little online coaching, worried when Baylor took the lead, and cheered when UConn came back to win, all in bursts of 140 characters or less.
“2am in Spain,” tweeted Kalana Greene, the most outstanding player in last spring’s Big East tournament. “My neighbors hate me right now….”
“3am here and I do not care,” replied Renee Montgomery, who is playing for Maccabi Ashdod in Israel. “Lets gooo!!!”
The trash talking started early, much of it aimed at Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, who chose to wear metallic leather pants, and a metallic gold blazer to the game.
“And the what not to wear outfit goes toooooooooooooooo …….. (Drum roll)…..kimmulkey,” wrote Tina Charles, last year’s national player of the year.
But once the game started, much of the tweeting was about the play on the court. Swin Cash, who attended the game with former teammates Sue Bird and Rita Williams, tweeted from the second row after Baylor center Brittney Griner drew two quick fouls from UConn freshman Stefanie Dolson.
“I haven’t seen Griner make 1 post move yet!,” Cash wrote. “She turns right shoulder every time, so there’s no need to foul.”
And when freshman Samarie Walker came in and held Griner scoreless over the last 17 minutes of the first half…there was praise from Charles.
“I must say samarie is doing a GRREEAAATT job :),” she wrote.
But there clearly were some nervous Huskies when Baylor overcame a 15-point deficit to take an eight point second-half lead.
“R u buggin out as much as me?” former forward Meghan Gardler wrote to Charles. “I can’t sit down.”
“every teams makes a run,” Greene tweeted. “now back to what we kno.”
And the Huskies did come back, closing on a 17-8 run and winning the game when Baylor’s Odyssey Sims couldn’t get off a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“coach is probably stroking his hair 904390790457905 times right now in the locker room,” joked Charles, and the UConn twitterati let out a huge cheer.
“And heres the thing,” wrote Montgomery. “If UConn loses at any point, theres nothin anyone could say to me bc Im still gonna bleed blue.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.