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

