A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Jan. 19, 1974, Notre Dame defeated mighty UCLA 71-70 in South Bend, Indiana, to end the Bruins’ 88-game winning streak.
The record of 88 straight still stands in college men’s basketball. That’s 1,092 days without a loss.
The Bruins, under legendary coach John Wooden, won 10 NCAA titles in the 1960s and 1970s. The Bruins had long since passed San Francisco’s amazing 61-game winning streak.
UCLA had defeated Iowa by 22 points early in the week for its 88th straight win. In fact, the last time UCLA lost it was to Notre Dame early in the 1971 season.
This time around, young Irish coach Digger Phelps decided to change his defense up against UCLA and its superstar center Bill Walton. Though Walton was 12 of 14 from the field, he had to work for every shot.
Still, UCLA seemed in good shape. The Bruins led by 17 points early, and led 70-59 with less than four minutes to play. But the Irish ended the game on a 12–0 run, capped by Dwight Clay’s game-winner.
Adrian Dantley started for the Irish in the game.
Three weeks later, UCLA smacked Notre Dame by 19 points on the way to another NCAA championship.
Did you know?
Two Utah schools were part of UCLA’s winning streak, both games coming during NCAA tournament play.
On March 18, 1971, UCLA defeated BYU 91-73 in an NCAA first-round game in Salt Lake City.
The next season, on March 16, 1972, the Bruins topped Weber State 90-58 in an NCAA regional semifinal at the Marriott Center in Provo.
But the UConn women were 2 wins better
There is another dynasty that actually had a better winning streak.
UConn’s women’s basketball squad tallied an impressive 90-game winning streak from 2008 to 2010 under coach Geno Auriemma.
Interestingly, similar to the Notre Dame-UCLA men’s series, Stanford was the last team to beat Connecticut in the 2008 NCAA semifinals.
The Huskies then won 90 straight games before Stanford stopped the streak on Jan. 30. 2010, with a 71-59 victory. Under Auriemma, the Huskies have won 11th national championships.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about UCLA’s and UConn’s long winning streaks, more on Bruins coach John Wooden, and dynasties in general.
As a bonus, check out a great story about the Salt Lake Trappers minor league baseball team and their 29-game winning streak:
“Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden dies”
“Waltons still haunted by Notre Dame”
“Dynasties disappear from NCAA landscape”
“UConn’s win streak ends at 90 in loss to Stanford”

“Bill Murray and Trappers in a league of their own”
“Rockmonster Unplugged: Was John Wooden worse than Bob Knight?”