Jeff Walz savors first win over Geno
With just about seven seconds left in front of the biggest crowd in women’s basketball this season, Louisville head coach Jeff Walz took a big sip of his water. For the first time in his coaching career and just the second time in his program's history, the Cardinals were able to take down the sport’s most prestigious program, defeating UConn 78-69 at home.
“I was wishing there was something else in it. It was a little bit stressful,” Walz said.
Whether it be regular season matchups, conference games or tilts in the Final Four, Walz and Huskies’ head coach Geno Auriemma have faced off numerous times, with Auriemma always coming out on top.
That changed Thursday night, and it marked a monumental moment for Walz and the Louisville program. With the win, the Cardinals are now 2-17 against UConn all-time, with their other win coming in 1993, before Walz took over the reins of the program.
While Walz’s team came out on top, the dominance of the Huskies’ program has not been lost on him, and it certainly makes this win mean more for the Cardinals.
“I’m not low-keying it, I promise you that,” Walz said. “It’s a huge win for our program. I think they’re 206-5 now in the past four years? Think about that. 206-5. And I’m excited to be 65-4. It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do.”
“I think they’ve been to 11-straight Final Fours,” Walz added. “That’s not having a bad night once the NCAA tournament starts in 44 games, because you have to win four each year to get to the Final Four.”
Throughout the years, Auriemma and Walz have grown to be friends, and the respect they have for each other is a huge part of that. As two coaches of two big-time programs, they have frequently crossed paths in some of the games’ biggest moments.
“Geno’s always been great to me. Even in Final Fours, championship games, they’ve obviously had our number for a long time but he’s always been very complimentary of our program. I’m very appreciative of that,” Walz said.”
Meanwhile, Auriemma played down the loss about as sarcastically as he could.
"Why is this a big deal? The No.3 home team in the country wins. ... In the real world, that's not that big a deal. But because it's UConn, it's a big deal. ... Yeah we're human. We kind of suck this year, to be honest with you."
But Walz knows Auriemma well enough to know that what he said almost certainly isn’t the case. Throughout the years, Auriemma has built the Huskies up to a level of dominance so consistent, it’s incredibly hard to fathom.
“That’s Geno. It’s where they’ve got their program too. It’s unbelievable. I’m good friends with their sportswriters and radio people and you’d think they’d gone three games below five hundred when they get beat in the Final Four,” Walz said.
For UConn, two regular season losses isn’t the end of the world, but it’s certainly a rare occurrence. The Huskies haven’t lost multiple games since the 2012-13 season, where they went 35-4. The end result? The first of four-straight national championships. And with two losses against two talented teams this season, Walz’s postgame comments are a testament to Auriemma’s coaching ability and the program he has built.
“I don’t care if it’s checkers or chess, if you can have the dominance they’ve had, it is night and night out that you don’t have a bad night. That’s what’s amazing to me,” Walz said. “They play as hard as anyone I’ve seen on film over the last 10 years, not over the last three games. They do what they do and that’s why they’re UConn. And we all strive to get there.”
With the loss, UConn is mostly relegated to the doldrums of American Athletic Conference play other than a final non-conference game on February 11th against South Carolina, who is not as competitive as years past. With so many likely blowouts down the pipeline, it will be hard to judge how this team reacts to this loss in the long term, but Walz has a pretty good hunch it could be business as usual for the Huskies in the spring.
“They’re going to win a lot of ballgames and it won’t surprise if they’re in Tampa come April,” Walz said.