The University of Connecticut men's basketball team suffered its first Big East loss of the season on Friday night, dropping an 81-72 affair against St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

The Huskies, ranked No. 3 in the nation, are now 22-2 and 12-1 inside the league. They saw their 18-game winning streak snapped by Rick Pitino's team, who is now 11-1 in the league and winners of nine straight contests.

After the game, here's what Huskies' head coach Dan Hurley had to say:

I credit St. John’s. I think, you know, it was the exact type of game we thought it was going to be, just as hard a game as we’ve had to play this year. And, in the end, it was always going to come down to just the the rebounding piece and then just being able to take care of that, and just to go on the road against that defense and shoot 54% and go 9-for-19 from three. Obviously, the turnovers killed us, 15 of them.

And then obviously the free-throws, you know, we didn’t make them, we didn’t shoot many. And then when we did shoot them, we missed them. So when you go minus 17 point wise at the foul line and turn the ball over 15 times, and get out rebounded, you know, you’re not going to win on the road.

So no, credit St. John’s. They got a real physicality that just plays real well in these conference games.

Zuby Ejiofor led the Red Storm in scoring with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He nearly recorded a triple-double, also pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Dillon Mitchell scored 15 points and added six boards, while Bryce Hopkins had 14.

For UConn, Silas Demary Jr. led the way with 18 points. Senior Alex Karaban had 17 points while freshman Braylon Mullins had 11 on 4-of-8 shooting. To Hurley's point, the Huskies were only 5-of-12 (42 percent) at the foul line. St. John's played aggressive from the start and was rewarded with 31 free-throw attempts in total.

The Huskies are back in action on Wednesday night when they take on Butler at 7:30 p.m. ET in Indianapolis, Ind. UConn has already beaten Butler this season, taking a 79-60 victory in the conference opener (Dec. 16).

The UConn women are in action on Saturday afternoon (12 p.m. ET) against Butler. The Huskies are No. 1 in the nation.

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