By Patrick Coleman
D3sports.com
PITTSBURGH — New York University is all alone atop the record book, as the Violets won their NCAA Division III-record 82nd consecutive game, defeating Carnegie Mellon 69-58. It’s the latest step in a run of 1,065 days since the last time NYU lost, in the Elite 8 on March 11, 2023.
Since then, all the Violets have done is win. They’ve barely been challenged. In that run of 82 wins, the first time they trailed in the fourth quarter of any game was one week ago, against the same Carnegie Mellon team that they defeated today.
And now it’s on to the rest of the team’s goals.
“The first thing for me I’m happy about is that NYU is on top (of the list of record streaks),” coach Meg Barber said after the game, “and we can kind of move forward with our goals of winning a UAA championship and getting back in the NCAA Tournament and trying to make a run.”
Caroline Peper finished with a game-high 27 points, including scoring the first 14 points of the game, part of a stretch in which there were 10 lead changes in the game’s first 20 minutes, with NYU leading 32-29 at the half. But the third quarter was a turning point, as the Violets outrebounded Carnegie Mellon 13-6 and hit seven of eight free throws to extend their lead to 12, at 49-37.
“I normally get the best defender on the court, actually just face guarding the whole game,” said Peper. “So ultimately for me it’s not about how many shots I make or take — it’s about the team in general, being able to put everyone in a position where they succeed the most, which today happened to be threes, on other possessions it happened to be me screening.”
From there, CMU (12-7, 4-4 in the UAA) was able to get as close as five points twice in the second half, but could get no closer as the Violets pulled away in the final three minutes.
Peper has been on the floor for all 82 of those wins, and for her, it goes back to that last loss more than a thousand days ago.
“I think that the last game I lost was a game that really created all of this,” she said. “I mean, we were sitting in the locker room thinking about the seniors that were graduating, being like, we should have won this for you. And now, we just play with that same heart every single day, and it’s really just come together to this moment.”
The record for longest Division III basketball winning streak was previously held by WashU, which won 81 consecutive games from 1998-99 to Jan. 16, 2001.
That game last Friday, Feb. 1, vs. Carnegie Mellon, required NYU to make a last second stop, and the Violets got a turnover from CMU to preserve a 58-57 win. NYU wouldn’t call it a wake-up call, but did acknowledge how significant the last-second victory win.
“I would say as opposed to a wake-up call, it was more ‘Hey, we really can execute and win close games.’ We haven’t really been tested in that way.
“I think we felt in our locker room that we were capable of doing that, but to actually see ourselves do that in front of a really great NYU home crowd, but that also creates a little bit of pressure, and the stands are full and, you know, their parents and friends and family are there. And I think they really leaned into that moment. And we grew up last weekend.”
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| The celebration continued into the postgame locker room for NYU. Photos by Matt Durisko Photography/Magnolia Media PA for D3sports.com |
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More coverage to come.