Julia Schachinger/Daily | Design by Lys Goldman
JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Editor
GUT
GUT
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
H
eading
into
Sunday’s
game at No. 15 Wisconsin,
the questions surrounding
the Michigan men’s basketball team
were solely on the court.
Would the Wolverines be able
to pick up a second consecutive
Quadrant 1 road win and put
themselves safely on the right side of
the NCAA Tournament bubble? Or
would they once again follow up an
important win with a dud?
But as Michigan left the Kohl
Center floor after a blowout loss, all
of those points became moot. All that
mattered was the altercation between
Michigan coach Juwan Howard and
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard in the
handshake line, an ugly incident that
resulted in Howard throwing a punch
at Badgers’ assistant Joe Krabbenhoft
and a full-team brawl.
Any way you look at it, Howard’s
actions were inexcusable. His
failure to apologize postgame
or
even
acknowledge
any
wrongdoing only made matters
worse. Michigan athletic director
Warde Manuel admitted that
much in a statement after the
game.
According to both coaches,
the incident stemmed from a
sequence that occurred with just
15 seconds remaining in the game.
While Wisconsin had a lineup of
all reserves on the court, Howard
left a few of his starters in the
game and instructed them to play
a full-court press. In danger of a
backcourt violation, Gard called
a timeout to reset the 10-second
clock and draw up a play to break
the press.
“I didn’t like the timeout being
called,” Howard said afterwards.
“I’ll be totally honest with you, I
thought it was not necessary at
that moment, especially being
a large lead, and then for the
time out to be called with three
seconds or four seconds to go. I
thought that … wasn’t fair to our
guys.”
Howard said extending the
game wasn’t fair to his players,
but he should have considered
how unfair of a position his
response has now put them in. By
throwing a punch, Howard will
almost certainly be suspended for
the foreseeable future, missing
a string of crucial games for
his team’s NCAA Tournament
push. All five of the Wolverines’
remaining games are against
potential tournament teams, and
they likely need to win three to
feel good about their chances
entering the Big Ten Tournament.
Now, they might be without
their head coach for all of
them. And the ramifications of
Howard’s actions might make
things worse.
After Howard escalated the
situation, multiple players on
both sides got involved. Freshman
forward Moussa Diabate and
sophomore
forward
Terrance
Williams II also appeared to
throw punches, which could
result in additional suspensions.
Needless to say, losing Diabate
— who dropped a career-high
28 points just two games ago
— and Williams, a key cog in
an undermanned rotation, will
hamper Michigan’s ability to
rattle off much-needed victories.
When asked after the game why
players stepped in, sophomore
center Hunter Dickinson and
graduate guard DeVante’ Jones
both preached a “we’re a family”
mantra. Howard even used that
to essentially excuse his players’
actions, saying:
“But you know what? I respect
our young men for saying what
they’re saying as far as we are a
family and truly, but did not want
it to be in a situation where it
escalated like that.”
If Howard truly believes that
this team is a family, and if he
truly didn’t want to escalate
anything, he should have had
the wherewithal to temper his
emotions to avoid what would
transpire.
Players play with a lot of
adrenaline, and after a tough loss,
they tend to run hot. It’s already
happened to Diabate this season
when he got into a skirmish after
a loss to Rutgers.
But Sunday, Howard put all
of his players in a situation to
potentially face discipline. And
even the ones that are allowed to
play on Wednesday against the
Scarlet Knights will be forced to
do so shorthanded and without
their coach. Howard put his
entire team — a team that has
finally begun to rack up big wins
and seemed poised to secure an
NCAA Tournament bid after
months of frustration — in an
unfair spot, both directly after
the game and as the season comes
to a close.
For Michigan, Sunday should
have been a mere blip on the radar,
a chance to address shortcomings
after a loss and regroup for a
crucial stretch run.
Instead, Sunday’s ramifications
will last as long as Michigan’s
season does.
And Howard’s actions may
have shortened it.
PUNCH
PUNCH
Juwan Howard’s
actions put Michigan
in a terrible position