VILLANOVA, Pa. — The ninth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team saw its eight-game winning streak snapped in a 68-66 loss in Villanova’s on-campus Finneran Pavilion Wednesday night.

Alex Karaban stared into a wall of opposing fans in the snug, 6,500-seat arena as he went to the free-throw line with a chance to give UConn a lead with three seconds to go. But both shots from the Huskies’ captain hit the rim and bounced out, all but sealing the team’s first loss since Nov. 27 in Maui.

Nearly coming back from a double-figure deficit in the second half for the second game in a row, UConn dropped to 12-4 on the season and 4-1 in Big East play. The loss ended a four-game winning streak against Villanova.

Solo Ball led the team with 16 points, all in the second half, and Jaylin Stewart added 14. Hassan Diarra scored 11, nine in the second half, and had nine assists as Karaban finished another relatively quiet night with 10.

Stewart got the call up to the starting lineup for the third time this season, filling Liam McNeeley’s typical spot as he missed his second game with a high ankle sprain. The Huskies sophomore wasn’t given an easy defensive assignment guarding the nation’s leading scorer, Eric Dixon, but that matchup went mostly his way in the first half as the sixth-year Dixon made just one of his eight shot attempts — the lone make coming against Ball after a switch. Less than five minutes in, the 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward tried to overpower Stewart, 215 pounds, but the latter held his own in the post and denied the shot.

That’s how the first few minutes went for Stewart, whose offensive success was the lone bright spot for the Huskies at the break. He scored 10 of the team’s first 14 points and was responsible for two of only three made 3-pointers for the Huskies (3 for 12) in the opening frame. Jayden Ross, who started in McNeeley’s place Sunday against Providence, made the other.

Uncharacteristically, UConn turned the ball over nine times in the first half, mostly unforced with a pair of shot clock violations mixed in. The Huskies came into the game ninth in the nation averaging only 9.8 turnovers per game.

Villanova answered with 10 points off turnovers in the opening frame. UConn held a slim lead for just over 10 minutes until the Wildcats closed the first half on a 9-2 run, taking a 32-25 lead into the break.

Dixon didn’t stay quiet for long.

The veteran big (23 points, 18 in the second half) muscled his way through the paint and finished a pair of 3-point plays to grow the Villanova lead to 12 five minutes into the second half. Though Stewart did block another of his shot attempts from the post, swinging momentum back to the visitors as Karaban nailed a 3-pointer in transition and Diarra added another. Ball — scoreless in the first half — made his second triple shortly after, a 13-2 run bringing the Huskies within one. Ball nailed two more from deep over the next three minutes to put UConn back in front, 57-55, with less than eight minutes to go.

The game was a grind down the stretch.

Consecutive 3-pointers from Wooga Poplar (18 points) and Dixon pushed Villanova up six with 3:27 to go, but Ball answered with a layup, Karaban made a massive 3-pointer in front of the Huskies’ bench and Stewart finished around two defenders to bring the score within one, 67-66, with 80 seconds to play. UConn never got back in front.

UConn remains on the road, finishing the week as the visitor to a 12-3 Georgetown team on Saturday, tipoff in Capital One Arena scheduled for 2 p.m.

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