STORRS, Conn. -- Taliek Brown's body language probably summed up the issues for Connecticut during Saturday's stunning 95-71 loss to Boston College.

Brown missed a layup and just stayed at the offensive end of the court, while Boston College broke out for another easy basket at the other end, long before Brown decided to rejoin his teammates on defense.

But it wasn't just Brown. The Huskies other leaders weren't doing much by example.

Ben Gordon lost his aggressive nature to take the basketball right UConn opponents somewhere between Madison Square Garden -- where the Huskies beat St. John's five days earlier 74-68 -- and Storrs, Conn. Gordon, who is averaging 21 points a game, scored 15 in the Huskies' worse home loss under Jim Calhoun.

Emeka Okafor? He apparently didn't think he needed to be his usual presence in the first half against BC, taking just one shot, not blocking a shot, and scoring exactly zero points as the Huskies fell behind by 28 points by halftime. Okafor actually finished without a foul, which isn't a good thing, considering he blocked just one shot and could have been even more aggressive.

All in all, it was one of the worst performances by a UConn team under Jim Calhoun. It was also one of the most perplexing. And it raises plenty of questions about the Huskies in the Big East East Division and beyond, while also raising some expectations for the Eagles and the rest of the East Division contenders.

"We can't just turn on a switch," Gordon said. "Obviously there is a problem and we have to fix it. Everybody has to focus on the same goal. Everybody needs to want to win as badly as coach. He's really determined and real competitive. We have to be just as competitive."

Calhoun wasn't nearly as detailed in his analysis. He put the loss in plain English.

"We got our ass kicked and our spirit broken," Calhoun said. "We gave in. This was far and away our worst performance of the year. There hasn't even been anything close in this building.

"They imposed their will on us. I was disgusted with the way we played. The game was over when it was 20-5. The rest of the stats are so irrelevant. I won't forget this. This isn't about Xs and Os when you have already had 77 practices."

Connecticut had flirted with this kind of result throughout the season. The Huskies made a habit of falling behind by 10 or more points in the past month, having been down by double figures to the likes of Massachusetts, Miami and Virginia Tech. They rallied to win those games. They also made big comebacks at Oklahoma, at North Carolina and at Miami, but lost all three.

But what happened in front of the home crowd Saturday was different. The Huskies played virtually no transition defense. They didn't challenge BC's shooters. They shot quickly. Simply put, the Huskies looked like they were showing up for the first practice of the season instead of their 17th game.

"It was bound to happen," Okafor said. "You just can't keep having slow starts and expect to come back. Teams in the Big East can get a lead on you and keep it. We've got to go back and find out what we've done wrong and fix it. This is a minor step back. We just have to reevaluate ourselves. We can't get too discouraged. It's not a state of emergency."

No, but it's not a good sign to start February, either.

Connecticut isn't in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies are 13-4 and 4-2 in the Big East. But their chances of holding onto the Big East East Division lead, let alone being a factor in March in making a deep run in the NCAAs, is up for debate.

The Huskies play at Virginia Tech on Wednesday and at Providence on Saturday. If the Huskies are going to win the East Division, they've put themselves in a position of needing to sweep these two road games. Why? Look what's ahead.

UConn hosts Syracuse a week from today on Big Monday (Feb. 10) before going on the road to Villanova (Feb. 15). Games at Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Boston College also await the Huskies, whose only other remaining home games after Syracuse are against Rutgers, St. John's and Providence.

If Connecticut becomes a team in turmoil in the Big East, there could be an opening for someone to jump up and sneak ahead of them by March. But the question is who? Villanova (12-7, 5-2) looked like the ideal candidate, but then the Wildcats lost at home to West Virginia on Saturday. St. John's has shown flashes of being a contender, especially in holding on to beat Miami on Sunday. But the Red Storm (11-6, 4-3) are still vulnerable if Marcus Hatten and Elijah Ingram aren't on from the perimeter.

That leaves Boston College as a realistic threat. But which team is the real BC? The one that lost to Northeastern, Holy Cross and Providence at home, or the one that blitzed through N.C. State on the road three weeks ago and beat up Virginia Tech and Connecticut on the road last week?

The Eagles were the first team that got a big lead on Connecticut and didn't let up. They were up 30 and played like they were ahead by two, continuing to look to punish the Huskies.

"Our backs are against the wall," said Boston College coach Al Skinner, who had legitimate concerns a week ago about qualifying for the Big East tournament with only one conference win. BC is now 3-4 (10-8 overall) and can think about challenging for the title again.

"We were in a tough place," Skinner said. "We're a better club than we showed. We were just trying to get back and be a player in this league. There was a sense of urgency on this team."

Connecticut would be wise to watch the way the Eagles played with passion and purpose down to the final minute Saturday. Connecticut can match the Eagles' talent, if not surpass BC's depth. But the Huskies' money players haven't been as consistent as guards Troy Bell and Ryan Sidney, not to mention freshman forward Craig Smith, in the last week. Bell scored 26 points and was at one point tied with Connecticut 17-17. Sidney didn't run his mouth, but stayed true to his game and scored 17. And Smith, who has scored 19 or more points in 12 straight games and is a legit candidate for Big East and national rookie of the year with Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony, put up 20 points.

"We didn't have an identity for a while," Bell said. "Now we're pressing and running. We used to just run around and didn't know what we're doing. Now we've got a great inside presence in Craig that nobody is going to stop. Pittsburgh is the best team in this league. The rest of the teams? We can play with them."

Still, the Eagles have no margin for error and must beat St. John's on Wednesday to stay in the race. They've got four road games remaining -- at Rutgers, Providence, St. John's and Miami -- and four at home (Miami, Virginia Tech, Villanova and Connecticut). All are winnable for the Eagles. But they've also shown they could lose them all.

Connecticut opened the door for someone to sneak up and take away the top spot in the Big East East Division. But is there a Big East team steadily enough to do it?

We'll see.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.