Hartford — What is it about Temple that sends UConn into a funk?

It happened again Tuesday night.

The 23rd-ranked Huskies entered the game as one of the best shooting teams in the American Athletic Conference (50.3 percent).

They shot the ball as if they had one hand covering their face.

A season-low 31.6 shooting percentage contributed to UConn's demise in a 55-53 loss at the XL Center. The defeat ended its winning streak at five.

The Huskies also were hurt by zero fast break points.

Temple won the defensive struggle on junior Josh Brown's driving shot in the lane with 2.5 seconds remaining. UConn quickly inbounded the ball, but Sterling Gibbs' halfcourt shot was well off the mark.

"If you do that, that's a recipe for disaster," coach Kevin Ollie said of his team's offensive woes. "We stayed in the game and (Josh) Brown made a hell of a play down the stretch to get the bucket and for them to win the game."

The Owls swept last season's two-game series.

Only forward Shonn Miller and Rodney Purvis reached double figures for the Huskies (10-4, 1-1), scoring 18 and 11 points, respectively. They shot a combined 11-for-24 while the rest of the team went an icy 7-for-33.

Playing Temple has been a nightmare for Daniel Hamilton, who tied his season low with six points on 2-for-13 shooting. He's now 7-for-37 (19 percent) in three career games versus the Owls (7-6, 2-1).

"I didn't see any energy until the end of the game," Ollie said of Hamilton.

Hamilton did convert some clutch free throws — something that he failed to do with 2.8 seconds left in last season's 57-53 overtime loss to Temple in Hartford — with 30.6 seconds remaining to knot the score at 53-all.

During a timeout with 14.2 seconds left, Temple coach Fran Dunphy called a play for guard Quenton DeCosey (15 points). But Brown elected to go to the basket against Gibbs, spinning in the lane and scoring the game-winner.

"It takes a special person to figure out how to get that last shot to go," Dunphy said. "He was real poised on the shot. As soon as it left his hands, I thought we had a real good chance of it going in. It wasn't how we drew it up. He just made the play."

Don't blame UConn's defense for this loss. The Huskies forced the Owls into 38.9 percent from the field. Entering the game second in the nation in fewest turnovers per game at 8.8, Temple finished with 12.

The Huskies forced a shot clock violation on consecutive possessions before Hamilton buried his game-tying free throws after being fouled trying to rebound his own miss.

It was a disheartening defeat for the Huskies, who returned home from a confidence-building two-game road trip that featured wins at Texas and Tulane.

After a tight first half ended with Temple leading 30-27, UConn spent the first 12 minutes trying to surge in front. Neither team led by more than eight.

The Huskies played a long stretch without Purvis, the team's leading scorer, who went to the bench with his third foul at the 14:57 mark and didn't return until over eight minutes later.

Reserve guard Jalen Adams provided a brief spark, scoring seven straight points to keep the Huskies within striking distance. Hamilton made his first field goal with 8:33 left after missing his first nine attempts.

Miller's two free throws with 7:58 left handed UConn its first lead of the second half, 47-46.

A stagnant attack resulted in few high percentage shots down the stretch. Hamilton's spinning runner in the lane put UConn up 51-49 with 4:02 remaining. It was his team's only field goal in the final eight and a half minutes.

Down two inside of two minutes left, both Gibbs and Purvis misfired on 3-point attempts. The Huskies also lost the battle for loose balls and rebounds during critical possessions.

It was not UConn's night.

Ollie plans to meet with his coaching staff today to take a hard look at his team's performance.

"It's disappointing but the sun is going come up tomorrow," Ollie said. "We're going to try to figure out who can play at a level five."

The game kicked off a two-game home stand for the Huskies, who host Memphis at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday night.

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe