Storrs — The sour taste of defeat has lingered over the exam break.

UConn coach Dan Hurley prefers not to sit on a loss for too long before playing again, especially one that could just have easily been a marquee victory instead of a defeat against No. 10 Florida State on Saturday.

But the schedule gave him no choice.

"Whenever you have a week, 10 days, you really don't want the bitter pill of losing when you have the break," Hurley said. "Just have to live with the loss is always tough because it's a bad feeling.

"But it was probably a good break for us."

Exams end this weekend for UConn, which resumes non-conference play on Saturday (8 p.m., SNY) against Manhattan College at Gampel Pavilion.

Losers of two of their last three games, the Huskies (7-3) are looking to gain some traction over the next two games, including Tuesday's matchup against Drexel, before facing defending national champion Villanova on Dec. 22 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

"We know what's coming up down the road," graduate transfer Tarin Smith said. "But we know have to take care of these two games first if we want that one to even matter, so we're focused."

The up and down schedule is not ideal. The Huskies have either faced traditionally strong teams or weak ones over the course of the first 10 games. Not a quality mid-major in sight.

Five of UConn's seven wins are against teams currently with losing records and another versus Cornell, which is 4-4. The lone impressive victory came against Syracuse. Losses are to Iowa, Arizona and Florida State.

"We haven't had a bad loss and we've had a good win," Hurley said. "Disappointed in the Iowa game and lost a couple of games that I thought were winnable in Florida State and Arizona. I thought we played really hard."

Hurley inherited this season's schedule, which was basically put together before his hiring in late March. He plans on a more competitive balance in the future. He'd also like to add at least one non-conference road game, something that's missing this season.

"You don't want to play five high major-plus type games and then play at the end of the spectrum," Hurley said. "You want to have a balance of some mid-majors that are picked to win their league. Maybe some programs that are also in transition. You probably want to try to have the best balance while also playing those exciting games, which we have played.

"That's something we'll continue to try to get better at."

The Huskies also will try to continue to get better on the basketball court. Practices during the exam break focused on polishing the rough edges.

"We've just been working on the things that we need to work on and trying to get better as a team," Smith said. "That's the biggest thing we've been trying to accomplish this week."

When asked what Hurley wants to see from his Huskies on Saturday, he responded: "Man, so many things.

"I would say eliminate just the bad stretches where it's like bad offensive possession, bad defensive possession, miss a block out. Where we go through these four, five, six possession stretches in games that really hurt us.

"... Obviously, the turnovers just shouldn't happen when you have good guards. That's an area that's got to get cleaned up. We can't be sloppy that way. Just continue to get better defensively and on the backboard. It's all the same things. We've just got to get better."

Manhattan (2-7) likely won pose much of a threat. The Jaspers have dropped four straight, including a 30-point loss to Hofstra on Monday. They were picked eighth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason poll.

Hurley is familiar with Manhattan coach Steve Masiello's distinct style. They've know each other since Hurley's coaching days at St. Benedict's Prep where Masiello, then a Louisville assistant, used to make recruiting stops.

The Huskies will be dealing with an active pressure defense that forces 16.4 turnovers per game and allows 62.6 points per game.

"It's a completely different style of play than we've seen," Hurley said. "Obviously, they're in transition with some young, talented players that are on their way up to cycle (the program) back up to being one of the better teams in the league. They're transitioning a little bit the way we are right now."

g.keefe@theday.com

UCONN vs. MANHATTAN

Location: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs

Tip: 8 p.m. (SNY)

Records: UConn 7-3, Manhattan 2-7

Last game: UConn lost to nationally-ranked Florida State, 79-71, Saturday; Manhattan lost to Hofstra, 80-50, Monday

Probable starters: Manhattan, 6-1 so. guard Nehemiah Mack (5 pts, 2.3 assists), 6-4 fr. guard Tykei Greene (3.3 pts), 6-7 fr. guard Christian Hinckson (1.9 pts, 2.6 rebs), 6-7 jr. forward Tyler Reynolds (6.3 pts, 1.9 rebs), 6-8 jr. forward Pauly Paulicap (10.3 pts, 4.3 rebs)

UConn, 6-3 sr. guard Jalen Adams (18.6 pts), 6-0 redshirt so. guard Alterique Gilbert (12.6 pts, 4.6 assists), 6-2 jr. guard Christian Vital (11.3 pts, 4.9 rebs), 6-8 so. forward Tyler Polley (9.1 pts, 2.7 rebs), 6-10 so. forward Josh Carlton (8 pts, 4.3 rebs)

Noteworthy: Huskies, losers of two of their last 3 games, return from exam break. ... Series: UConn leads, 18-14, losing last meeting, 52-51, Jan. 1983 on the road. ... First ever NCAA win over Jaspers, 84-75, in 1956 first round at Madison Square Garden. ... While at Wagner, Dan Hurley shared the 2012 MET coach of the year honor with Manhattan's Steve Masiello. ... Jaspers riding four-game losing streak. Picked to place 8th in MAAC preseason poll. ... Manhattan 31st in nation in scoring defense at 62.6 pts per game, but score just 53.4. Only Paulicap, MAAC's defensive player of the year last season, averages in double figures. ... Top reserve 6-7 so. forward Ebube Ebube (6.1 pts, 6.2 rebs). ... Hot: Huskies first in AAC in scoring (84.1, 26th in nation) and FG percentage (47.9). Cold: Jaspers shooting 36 percent from field, 54 percent from line. ... Pressure defense will test UConn, which has 48 turnovers in last 3 games. ... Gilbert hit career highs for points (24), assists (11) and steals (5) in last two games. ... UConn 6-1 at home. ... Up next: UConn hosts Drexel Tuesday in Hartford.

— Gavin Keefe