UCLA was both the unstoppable force and the immovable object in college basketball during the 1960s and 1970s.

Under the direction of coach John Wooden, the Bruins won 10 national championships in 12 years beginning in 1964. The run of dominance included 88 straight wins from 1971 to 1974. The staggering streak of victories remains the longest in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history.

On Jan. 31, 2026, both Arizona and Miami (Ohio) improved to 22-0. The Wildcats defeated in-state rival Arizona State to secure the best start in program history. Meanwhile, the RedHawks beat Northern Illinois to extend their longest winning streak in the history of the program and surpass the 2001-02 Kent State Golden Flashes for the longest stretch of victories in the history of the Mid-American Conference.

Here’s a look at the longest winning streaks in Division I men’s basketball history below:

88 games – UCLA (1971-74)

The top-ranked Bruins lost at Notre Dame 89-82 on Jan. 23, 1971. The four-time defending national champions responded by rattling off a record 88 straight victories, which included three more national championships and back-to-back 30-0 seasons in 1971-72 and 1972-73. Almost exactly three years to the day from when UCLA fell to the Irish, the Bruins stumbled again at Notre Dame 71-70, snapping the streak. UCLA led 70-59 with 3:22 left.

60 games – San Francisco (1954-56)

Speaking of UCLA, San Francisco, led by junior Bill Russell, suffered an early-season loss to Wooden’s Bruins during the 1954-55 campaign. Russell and the Dons went undefeated the rest of the way and finished 28-1 en route to winning the program’s first national championship. Russell’s Dons went 29-0 the following season and captured their second straight national title. With Russell and star guards K.C. Jones and Hal Perry no longer on the team, San Francisco struggled to maintain the same level of play and saw its winning streak end at 60 against Illinois four games into the 1956-57 campaign.

47 games – UCLA (1966-68)

Before winning 88 straight, the Bruins racked up 47 consecutive victories from the start of the 1966-67 season until Jan. 20, 1968. After capturing back-to-back national championships in 1964 and 1965, UCLA trudged through an 18-8 season in 1965-66 in which the Bruins failed to play in the NCAA tournament. But with sophomore Lew Alcindor (later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) now as its centerpiece, Wooden’s group rebounded with an unblemished 30-0 campaign in 1966-67 and its third national title. The Bruins started the following season 13-0 before traveling to No. 2 Houston and losing the streak to the Cougars 71-69 in the “Game of the Century.”

45 games – UNLV (1990-91)

Jerry Tarkanian transformed UNLV into a national power in the 1980s. His work culminated with a national championship during the 1989-90 season. With Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony leading the way, the Rebels finished the season on an 11-game winning streak, routing Duke 103-73 in the national championship game. The two teams met again in the 1991 Final Four, with undefeated UNLV now riding a 45-game winning streak. Christian Laettner scored 28 points — including two free throws with 12.7 seconds to play — in a 79-77 win for the Blue Devils and the Rebels’ unscathed run came to an end.

44 games – Texas (1913-17)

Texas coach Theo Bellmont led the Longhorns to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1913-14 (11-0) and 1914-15 (14-0). Bellmont stepped down and Roy Henderson kept the ball rolling, leading Texas to a 12-0 mark in 1915-16. Now under Eugene Van Gent, the Longhorns’ undefeated reign came to a screeching halt in a 24-18 defeat against Rice on Jan. 30, 1917.

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