While no coach likes to lose a game, for both Kentucky and Connecticut, losing games proved beneficial at critical points during a season when each team struggled at times to find itself.

For the Wildcats, it was a three-game losing streak in early February. For the Huskies, it was back-to-back home losses at the end of the regular season. Both teams learned lessons that have brought them one step away from the 2012 NCAA Final Four when they meet on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. (ESPN, WTIC, WHUS) at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I.

“For the first time in my career, I thought they were really great losses for us, really, really good losses. Not that night, but now I do,” Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said, about the losses to St. John’s at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on Senior Night and then to Notre Dame at the XL Center. “On Senior Night, great teams, great programs win unless there’s something wrong. We knew going into that game we hadn’t really taken care of everything we needed to take care of. That period of time from the Monday night of the Notre Dame game and the start of the Big East Tournament is the time when our team probably grew more than they had in the previous five months.”

Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell said his Wildcats responded to three straight losses with three consecutive wins, to finish the regular season as SEC champions.

“[It] showed that the team had some toughness, some grit about them, and resolve to work through a real difficult patch,” he said. “I think that was a real significant part of the season. After the SEC tournament, we were able to get into the gym and maybe get our legs back a little bit and regain some confidence. We have certainly played well, and played tough to get to this point.”

This point in the season is the game Auriemma has often described as the most difficult game to win in the NCAA Tournament, the first game in what is now a three-game series that leads to a national championship. His point is not lost on the players.

“You have to obviously go in knowing if you lose you’re done. This is a huge game, win this one and you get to the Final Four,” said Kelly Faris ’13 (ED), who is hoping to reach her third Final Four in Denver next week. “I think a lot of people take it for granted and expect this program to get there every year. It’s not easy. Going into tomorrow, we have to take it as another game, but probably know it’s one of the biggest ones.”

And while the legendary Kentucky men’s team has already punched its latest ticket to the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans, the women’s team has not been there before.

“To get to the Final Four would be awesome,” said Kentucky guard Amber Smith. “So we’re focused on practice today and getting ready for the game tomorrow. It would be big for this program.”

Kentucky is 28-6 and won the SEC regular season title. The Wildcats are led by junior guard A’dia Mathies, who is averaging 15.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, and freshman forward Bria Goss, who averages 10.9 points per game. The team’s leading rebounder is former UConn player Samarie Walker, a sophomore who averages 7.3 rebounds per game. Against Gonzaga on Sunday, Walker had a double-double, with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Walker transferred from UConn in January 2011, and sat out the first part of the current season.

The Wildcats have shot 40 percent for the season to date, scoring an average of 74.1 points per game, while giving up 58 points.

“You watch them play, and you see these wild swings in what they do,” Auriemma said. “I think that’s part of what they generate on the court. I think their style of play, if you’re not careful, gets you into such a crazy way of playing that they’re a lot better at that than you are. If you don’t control the tempo and keep control of it, I think they get you exactly where they want you, and you’re at their mercy. It’s kind of like playing us a little. You’re not quite sure you know where all their points are going to come from.”

Kentucky likes to play at a fast pace, said Faris, adding that she expects the Huskies to match the Wildcats with their own transition game.

“We saw that last night [against Gonzaga], a lot of up and down,” said Faris. “The few games I’ve seen Kentucky play they’ve done that best. I think that’s where we play our best game, if we get out and execute in transition.”

Bria Hartley ’14 (CLAS), who is averaging 18 points per game during the NCAA Tournament, said the Huskies must continue to protect the basketball well.

“I think we’re just going to need to take care of the ball,” she said. “We’ve been working all season talking about taking care of the ball and not having turnovers. Make sure we’re getting good looks at the rim. Come back at them with a little more pressure as well.”

Mitchell was asked whether his team might try to ignore “the Connecticut Mystique,” a reference to the Huskies’ history as one of the top programs in women’s basketball.

“Anybody that says it doesn’t exist is living in La La Land. They are not in reality,” he said. “Connecticut has a mystique because they have great players and a great coach that coaches them in an excellent fashion. I think what you do – I might be wrong – but I think you embrace it, say they’ve earned it. We’re not playing the Connecticut teams of the past. We are playing these players. We need to go to practice today and have as normal a Kentucky practice as we can. Then at some point your players just have to step up and win a game like this. Players win games, I believe that, and we have some good players and they’re going to have to play well tomorrow night.”

While the Huskies spent much of the season understanding that they must win collectively, as they did against Penn State on Sunday, when asked whether one member of the team needs to rise above all others in such a critical game when the team might find itself struggling, Auriemma said the answer will determine who wins the game on Tuesday.

“The interesting part for us is to see who takes on that role. It could be a combination of people,” he said. “The one thing that concerned me at the beginning of the season was that going into the beginning of the year, we didn’t have that one person who had done that in the past that we could count on. I don’t think anybody in this particular team has been in this situation. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. That’s what this game is all about tomorrow night. If a couple of their key guys struggle, they’re going to lose. If our guys struggle, we’re going to lose. It’s just one or two kids who are going to wake up tomorrow morning and they’re going to have a great night. That team is going to the Final Four.”

TOURNAMENT NOTES: Should the Huskies advance to Denver, senior Tiffany Hayes ’12 (CLAS), will join an elite group of players who have gone to four straight Final Fours.