Despite the heartbreak of not making it to the NCAA championship game, UCLA maintained its historic milestone after Gonzaga's loss to Baylor on Monday.
The 1995 class of UCLA still holds the longest winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament of any national champion since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers. The 1995 Bruins, led by future NBA players Ed O'Bannon, George Zidek, and Tyus Edney won 13 consecutive games ahead of March Madness that year.
.@KyleTucker_ATH and I will be quick to remind all of you:
1995 UCLA has the longest winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament of any national champion since 1976 Indiana, at 13 games.
No team has won 20 straight or more to win the title since the '76 Hoosiers.
— Matt Zemek (@MattZemek) April 6, 2021
Had Gonzaga won the title over Baylor, the team would've completed a perfect season, including 32 straight wins, obliterating the UCLA milestone.
The 13-0 run en route to the 1995 NCAA title is a good testament to the UCLA basketball program. Some college squads remain in the rut for a long time, but the Bruins have always remained competitive.
This year, however, UCLA suffered one of the most heartbreaking losses in NCAA history at the hands of Jalen Suggs and Gonzaga in the Final Four. After Johnny Juzang tied the game at 90 with only 3.3 ticks left, Suggs drained a miracle shot from halfcourt to extinguish the overtime hopes of UCLA. Despite this, Juzang was gracious in defeat (via Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times).
“Jalen makes an incredible shot, didn’t go our way, but, immediately, we come together, we weren’t going to let anybody have their heads down. There’s no other way we’d rather go out. We went out fighting. There’s no better way, there’s no regrets, just everybody fought until the last play.”
UCLA definitely showed a class act. And perhaps this is the reason why the proud school has held a long tradition and culture of winning.
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