New York — A loss as painful as Tuesday night’s will take a while for the Huskies to get over.

Turnovers and breakdowns cost UConn a chance at upsetting Indiana in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.

The Huskies headed home thinking about what could have been after a 57-54 defeat that ended their winning streak at three games.

“It’s tough,” redshirt freshman Akok Akok said. “It’s heart-breaking.”

The Huskies (6-3) self-destructed, committing a season-high 22 turnovers.

An opportunity at a statement-making win slipped away.

Coach Dan Hurley called it a step back.

“Twenty-two turnovers versus a team that’s not really pressuring, it’s shocking that we only lost by three,” Hurley said. “There’s 25 different ways we probably could have won the game. We just reverted back to playing in a way that isn’t going to allow you to beat good teams.”

The starting frontcourt of junior Josh Carlton (18 points, five rebounds), Akok (nine points, five rebounds and five blocks) and junior Josh Polley (12 points) provided a boost.

But the Huskies can’t win a game against a quality opponent like Indiana (9-1) when their veteran backcourt of Christian Vital and Alterique Gilbert shoots a combined 3 for 17 from the field, scores 10 points and makes 10 turnovers. 

“I said this in the preseason, if our older players play like all-conference level players, then we can have a great season, a surprising season and have a chance to really compete in our conference,” Hurley said. “If they don’t, it’s going to be a season of excruciating losses like Xavier and like this one.

“We’re not the same program. We show up much differently. But now we’ve blown two opportunities to get high level wins in year two of our program.”

UConn’s bench also failed to deliver, with only reserve Sidney Wilson (five points, four rebounds, two blocks) being a factor.

The Huskies’ competitive heart kept them within striking distance until the final seconds of an ugly, physical game.

Trailing by three after Devonte Green drained a free throw with 9.2 seconds left, UConn inbounded the ball to Vital who raced up court. Vital lost control in traffic and turned the ball over to the Hoosiers with 2.5 seconds remaining. 

It was Vital’s seventh turnover.

“Bad play by me,” Vital said. “Bad decision. I’ve got to be better.” 

It was a fitting way for the Huskies to end the game considering their careless play started in the first half and never let up.

UConn trailed 34-29 at intermission after leading by as many as 10 in the first half. The Huskies had more turnovers (14) than field goals (11) at the break.

Carlton and Polley carried the Huskies on the offensive end and Akok was a disruptive force on the defensive end.

Indiana seized the momentum with Akok on the bench with two fouls. The Hoosiers closed the half with an 18-3 spurt.

The second half got off to a brutal start, as neither team could locate its shooting stroke. Wilson sparked a 7-0 run with five straight points to tie the score at 38-all with 11 minutes left.

From that point, the game remained tight.

Carlton’s dunk pushed UConn in front, 42-40. It would be the last lead for the Huskies.

Al Durham’s driving basket handed Indiana the lead for good, 49-47. Indiana extended the gap to six.

The Huskies weren’t finished yet.

Gilbert buried a three-pointer for his first points to cut the deficit to 56-54 with 14.3 seconds on the clock

Green made one of two foul shots to push the advantage to three. But Vital committed the team’s 22nd turnover ended UConn’s last chance.

“It was a lost opportunity for us,” Carlton said. “We really beat ourselves more than beating us in the game.”

The Hoosiers won despite not having a player score in double figures. They managed to score just 12 points off UConn’s turnovers and shot 37 percent from the field. The Huskies converted 41 percent and won the rebounding battle, 37-34.

“It was just an unbelievably hard game,” Indiana coach Archie Miller said. “The UConn kids played really hard. I thought our guys dug down.”

g.keefe@theday.com