Geno Auriemma isn’t upset that UConn lost a game at Michigan on Thursday. Given the caliber of competition on the Huskies’ non-conference schedule, he expected to drop a few contests along the way.

Instead, it’s the way they lost that bothers the head coach.

"I told them with our schedule, I didn't expect to go undefeated. I didn't expect to win them all. But I expected us to represent Connecticut way better than that,” he said.

Auriemma remembers the last time UConn had such an uncharacteristic performance: Nov. 21, 2004. The first season after Diana Taurasi graduated, the Huskies traveled to Raleigh to take on North Carolina and lost 71-65. They coughed the ball up 28 times and let the Tar Heels close the game on a 16-5 run.

“[The loss at Michigan] was the worst UConn performance since early November in [2004],” Auriemma said. “I actually remember the game. We played North Carolina in Raleigh in some tip-off tournament or something (the Jimmy V Classic). It's [22] years ago but I remember like it happened yesterday because it was just as bad. I walked out of that building going, ‘This is going to be a long year.’”

That proved to be true. The Huskies ultimately went 25-8, ended up as a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost in the Sweet Sixteen. They have higher expectations for this season.

So what made Thursday night’s loss so anomalous?