Athletics

November 21, 2024 | UConn Athletics

A Historic Night in Storrs

His 1,217th career victory solidifies Coach Geno Auriemma as the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history

UConn Women's Basketball players on the court while the crowd holds up signs spelling out "1217"

Coach Geno Auriemma becomes the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history with a history 1,217 wins. (UConn Athletics)

Geno Auriemma became the winningest coach in NCAA college basketball history, earning his 1,217th victory as No. 2 UConn beat Fairleigh Dickinson 85-41 on Wednesday night.

Auriemma broke a tie with retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer for the most victories all-time. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski holds the men’s record with 1,202. Auriemma began his journey with UConn in 1985 and is 1,217-162 in his career. He has only had one losing season — his first one with the Huskies.

The Huskies (4-0) celebrated Auriemma and associated head coach Chris Dailey’s 40 years at the school with more than 60 alums, including former UConn greats Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Rebecca Lobo in attendance.

UConn’s latest star led the way as Paige Bueckers had 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Freshman Sarah Strong had 20 points.

FDU (4-2) hung around for the first few minutes and only trailed 14-12 before UConn scored nine of the final 11 points of the quarter. The Knights didn’t get within single digits the rest of the way.