Rutgers commits this season's most embarrassing turnover

Two-thirds of the way through a miserable, injury-plagued season, Rutgers somehow found a way to sink to a new low.

The Scarlet Knights committed maybe the season's most embarrassing turnover in the final minute of their 68-57 loss at Michigan on Wednesday night.

When Michigan's Zak Irvin missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with his team up eight and 45 seconds to play, none of the three Rutgers players lined up along the lane appeared to realize that it was a live ball. Senior forward Greg Lewis handed the ball back to the referee as though it were a two-shot foul, resulting in a turnover that had Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan shaking his head in disgust.

The brain cramp from the Scarlet Knights is a fitting part of a season that has not gone well even by Rutgers standards.

They're 6-15 overall and 0-8 in the Big Ten. They've lost their eight league games by an average of 23.6 points. Not one of the six teams they've beaten so far this season checks in higher than 272nd in the latest KenPom rankings.

The Michigan game was actually one of Rutgers' better performances this season prior to the gaffe in the final minute. The Scarlet Knights held the high-powered Wolverines to 40.8 percent shooting from the field, but they did not get enough offense from anyone besides Mike Williams (17 points) and Corey Sanders (15).

While forgetting that a missed free throw is a live ball was a boneheaded play, Rutgers can take solace that it wasn't even the school's biggest blunder in recent months. In October, the Scarlet Knights football team lost to Michigan State by seven when quarterback Chris Laviano lost track of downs and spiked the ball on fourth down instead of throwing for the end zone.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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