Has there ever been a more turnover-prone UConn team than this one?

It's hard to imagine.

These Huskies invent ways to turn the ball over. They're careless. They continually make unforced errors. They not smart with the basketball.

They basically threw away the game Sunday against Louisville, committing a season-high 22 turnovers in a damaging 78-76 loss. The Cardinals took advantage, scoring 19 points off turnovers and finishing with 15 steals.

"We kept throwing the ball to the wrong team," coach Jim Calhoun said.

The Huskies gave different reasons for the frequent mistakes.

"It was just sloppiness," senior Gavin Edwards said.

"I guess just trying to do a little more than necessary," senior Jerome Dyson said. "Sometimes it's just thinking a player is going to do one thing and they do another."

You'd think 29 games into a season the Huskies would be on the same page.

Turnover trouble will likley help keep the Huskies, 17-12 overall, out of the NCAA Tournament. In their 12 losses this season, they've averaged 16.9 turnovers.

They were especially brutal in the second half Sunday, committing 14 turnovers.

Senior Jerome Dyson committed the most costly one, attempting to thread a pass in traffic to freshman Alex Oriakhi under the basket. Louisville's Kyle Kuric wound up with the ball with 38 seconds remaining in a tie game.

Just why is Dyson. the team's leading scorer, passing to Oriakhi, the worst offensive option on the floor?

"Right to the end, the last play we made, I'm not sure who we were throwing it to, why we were throwing it to him, and why we were doing what we did," Calhoun said.

Dyson had a career-high tying six turnovers. Senior Stanley Robinson was dangerous with the ball, too, committing five turnovers. Edwards was next with three.

"There's no excuse for that," Robinson said.

So UConn's three seniors combined for 14 turnovers in their final home game of their career.

Their turnovers negated a great team rebounding effort (50-22). Junior Charles Okwandu had a career-high eight rebounds in 16 minutes.

So the Huskies are left scrambling with two regular season games remaining -- at Notre Dame Wednesday and at South Florida Saturday.

Don't expect the Huskies to take better care of the basketball. They've averaged 16.6 turnovers in eight road games.