Newark, N.J. — If not for costly late-game mistakes this season, UConn would be sitting in an entirely different position right now.

The Huskies would be where they expect to be, among college basketball's elite.

Instead, they keep adding to their list of painful narrow defeats and talking about what could have been.

Coming off a 17-day COVID-related pause and with limited practice time to prepare for Saturday's Big East game at No. 24 Seton Hall, UConn fell short despite an inspired effort, losing 90-87 in overtime.

All four of UConn's losses are by four points or less this season. The Huskies slipped to 10-4 overall, 1-2 in league play.

Coach Dan Hurley said Saturday's game would have been his best win since he arrived in Storrs if the Huskies pulled it off. But they didn't.

"It was a great effort," Hurley said. "Frustrating. The turnovers killed us from the perimeter guys. They had 26 points off (19) turnovers; That was crippling. We've got to stop losing. We're all tired of losing now.

"We've had excruciating losses, four of them. We could have won any of those games. We could easily be sitting as a top five team in the country right now if we closed out games a little bit better or found a way to win theses."

UConn didn't have its full roster available in the first three losses due to injuries, as it played without Isaiah Whaley against Michigan State, Tyrese Martin and Adama Sanogo at West Virginia and Sanogo against Providence.

On Saturday, the Huskies had only had a few days of a full team practice before facing the Pirates but had all of their scholarship players available.

"We've been in those games, but we just haven't been able to finish," veteran R.J. Cole said of the four losses. "We just have to continue to try to get better with that and I think it will fall for us."

The Pirates (11-3, 2-2) were missing regular Alexis Yetna, who sat out with an injury.

The two teams played 55 minutes of riveting and thoroughly entertaining basketball, with neither leading by more than nine points. UConn led 41-37 at intermission and 54-45 with 16 minutes left in the second half.

In the extra session, Seton Hall made just a few more clutch plays than UConn, which led only once (87-86) in the final five minutes on Sanogo's hook shot with 46 seconds left.

Sophomore Kadary Richmond, who scored 25 of his career-high 27 points after halftime, had the game winning points for the Pirates. He converted inside while being fouled by Whaley and hit the ensuing free throw for an 88-87 lead with 31 seconds remaining in overtime.

After calling a timeout with 27 seconds left, UConn ran a play to try to get the ball to Sanogo, who had a team-best 18 points and career-high 16 rebounds. With Sanogo covered, the Pirates swarmed Martin who lost the ball and Seton Hall called a timeout at the 2.6 second mark.

Aiken (22 points) closed it out by sinking two free throws.

"We made a lot of mistakes in the second half, which made us lose," said Sanogo, who was expected to be restricted to under 20 minutes but played 32.

Cole, who fouled out early in overtime, finished with 15 points while Martin had 13 points and Tyler Polley added 11. The Huskies shot the ball remarkably well considering their long layoff, converting 47 percent from the field and making 14 of 23 from 3-point range.

"We all gave it our all," Cole said. "You guys talk about the (COVID) pause, it's tough. But I feel like we were still in the position to win the game."

Both teams had a chance to win in regulation.

With the score tied at 77-all, Cole's off-balanced runner in traffic bounced off the backboard, leading to a shot clock violation with 8.3 seconds left. Seton Hall's Bryce Aiken misfired from 3-point range at the buzzer.

In the end, the Huskies couldn't stop the Pirates, who shot 54 percent, when they needed to, especially Richmond who scored 17 straight points at one point in the second half. He came in averaging just 6.9 points per game.

"We were waiting for him to come back down to earth, but he never really did," Hurley said.

UConn hopes to be more up to full speed when it hosts St. John's on Wednesday in Storrs. The Huskies will benefit from a few days of practice to improve their conditioning and timing.

The Huskies still believe they're Big East contenders.

"It's been the narrative all year coming into the season that we were one of the deepest teams in the Big East," Cole said. "So, we have the ability and the talent. It's just a matter now of getting into a groove and starting to get some wins."

g.keefe@theday.com