Newark, N.J. - UConn suffered a major meltdown Tuesday.

"It was a bad game," sophomore Jeremy Lamb said.

No. 8 UConn stumbled to a 75-63 loss to Seton Hall at the Prudential Center, losing for the first time in the series since 2001. The Huskies had won 11 straight against the Pirates.

On this night, the Pirates were the better team.

"They did a remarkable job," UConn associate head coach George Blaney said of Seton Hall. "They played with a lot of heart and with a lot of fight. They took the game to us. … They really outplayed us. I was not happy with that."

It's a safe bet that coach Jim Calhoun, who missed the third and final game of his suspension, will address that lack of effort when he rejoins the Huskies today.

It was a complete breakdown across the board.

The Huskies (12-2, 2-1) grew stagnant on the offensive end against an active and extended zone, settling for jump shots while shooting a season-low 35 percent. Take away Lamb (19 points on 7-for-14 from the field), and the rest of the team went 13-for-43. Only reserve Niels Giffey (11 points) showed any offensive life.

They looked nothing like the fluid team that shot a season-high 60 percent in Saturday's win over St. John's. They also lost the battle of the boards, 36-34.

"I can't remember since I've been that any of our teams have ever shot 35 percent," said Blaney, who's in his 11th season at UConn.

Defensively, they were slow to find Seton Hall's shooters, as the Pirates converted 10 of 20 3-pointers. Point guard Jordan Theodore scored all 19 points in the second half and had 11 assists overall.

"We just didn't play UConn basketball," sophomore Tyler Olander said.

Seton Hall (13-2, 2-1) celebrated a defining victory for the program.

"It's a great win for the players, it really is," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. "That's a heck of a program."

Willard's defensive game plan focused on stopping point guard Shabazz Napier who sometimes drew two defenders.

The strategy worked, as Napier struggled under heavy pressure, going 2-for-12 from the field with four assists and five of UConn's 14 turnovers. Napier had just six points.

"Defensively, we really wanted to shut down Napier," Willard said. "You watch them, and he really is the catalyst. … He was a much more important person to stop because Lamb is going to get his."

Lamb did get his points, scoring 13 alone in the first half, but he was the only Husky to hit a field goal in the final 13:32.

UConn actually came out with great energy, jumping out to an 11-2 lead. But the Huskies went into self-destruct mode, finishing the first half with more turnovers (13) than field goals (8-for-24).

Seton Hall just played harder, hustled for rebounds and loose balls and ran off of turnovers. Reserve Freddie Wilson's 3-pointer put the hosts in front for good, 17-16.

For the first time this season, UConn trailed at halftime, losing 35-22.

"We came out really well and then they came back and punched us in the mouth a little bit," Olander said. "We failed to punch back for the rest of the game."

The Huskies played better in the second half, cutting the gap to 45-36. But the Pirates converted four straight 3-pointers - three by Theodore - to pull away again and end UConn's winning streak at seven.

Near the end of the game, Seton Hall's student section was chanting, "Who is Drummond?," referring to UConn freshman Andre Drummond's comments Monday about not knowing Seton Hall's leading scorer Herb Pope.

Pope had the upper hand Tuesday, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Drummond had four points, five rebounds and four blocks.

UConn's road trip continues at Rutgers Saturday night.

"We need to recover from it quickly because we've got another road game against a very good Rutgers team," Blaney said.

g.keefe@theday.com