Newark, N.J. — Hard to call a road game in mid-January a must win.

But desperately needed after UConn came into Wednesday’s Big East action having lost four of its five to fall in the Big East standings and national rankings?

Definitely.

No. 15 UConn didn’t get it done, however, after leading for nearly the entire game, suffering a painful 67-66 loss to Seton Hall at the Prudential Center.

“We’re heartbroken,” senior Tristen Newton said. “We thought we should have had that one. ... This is the toughest one (this season).”

The Huskies built a 17-point first half lead before buckling. Seton Hall’s KC Ndefo grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic and scored the game-winning basket with 1.6 seconds left.

“It was a great feeling,” Ndefo said.

They played without head coach Dan Hurley and associate head coach Kimani Young, who stayed home after both testing positive for COVID.

Assistants Tom Moore and Luke Murray were in charge on Wednesday. They found out that they’d shorthanded in the coaching ranks Tuesday morning before practice.

“They’re all really tough,” Murray said of the losses this season. “To lead for 39 minutes and 20 seconds on the road, it would have been a great one for us.”

“Really disappointing.”

Junior Adama Sanogo led the Huskies with 16 points while sophomore Jordan Hawkins scored 13 points, but only four in the second half. Newton added 11 points.

UConn was in good position after leading by 14 at intermission, its biggest advantage at the break since being up by 35 against Long Island University on Dec. 10. The Huskies rediscovered an offensive edge that had been missing, scoring 40 points.

“It felt good,” Newton said of about his team’s first half performance. “It felt like we got back to our identity. Then we let up a little bit. ... I felt like we got a little comfortable and just went downhill.”

The Huskies fell apart in the face of pressure in the second half, committing 12 of their 18 turnovers overall and making just 7 of 24 field goals in the final 20 minutes.

“I thought I did a poor job of coaching the guys, offensively in particular,” Murray said. “We knew that Seton Hall was going to pick up their pressure in the second half, and they did.

“We didn’t do a good job of handling it.”

UConn (15-5, 4-5) made losing plays down the stretch while trying to hold off Seton Hall (12-8, 5-4), which has won a season-high four straight.

Up by five with under just over four minutes left, UConn committed three turnovers in four trips.

Then clinging to a 64-63 lead, Sanogo missed inside. The Huskies made just nine of 25 layup attempts overall.

“We missed some open looks and missed some opportunities around the rim,” Murray said.

Seton Hall took its first lead (65-64) when Kadary Richmond (18 points, 10 rebounds) scored in the lane with 1:10 remaining.

Five seconds later, Newton’s two free throws handed UConn a 66-65 edge.

After Seton Hall misfired on a 3-point attempt, UConn had a chance to extend its lead coming out of a timeout, but Karaban missed an open 3-pointer from the corner.

The Pirates set up for the final shot and pulled out a dramatic win when Ndefo won the rebound battle off a missed 3-pointer and scored the game’s final basket.

As they’ve done in the second half of recent losses, the Huskies crumbled in a tight game. They looked rattled at times.

Seton Hall gradually chipped away at the deficit.

UConn stayed in front for awhile despite its offensive struggles but eventually gave up the lead and the game.

The Huskies finished shooting 39.3 percent, the Pirates 41.3.

“It was a tough one, that’s all I’ve got to say, Hawkins said. ”But we’re not going to hang our heads low. We’ve got a game on Sunday.“

Next up is a home game against Butler at noon Sunday at the XL Center in Hartford. UConn won the first meeting, 68-46, on the road on Dec. 17.

“As far as turning the page is concerned, we know we have Butler at home,” Murray said. “We played well at (Butler) and we’ve got to get ourselves back on track.”

If Hurley and Young are symptom free by Sunday, there’s a good chance that they’ll be back on the bench for the Butler game.

“Coach Luke and coach Moore did a great job,” Hawkins said. “It stinks that we couldn’t get this one for them. All praise to coach Luke and coach Moore leading the pack. We’re just blessed to have them.”

g.keefe@theday.com