Michigan Coach Juwan Howard Faces Discipline After Striking Wisconsin Assistant

The trouble began when Badgers head coach

Greg Gard

drew Howard’s ire by calling a timeout with 15 seconds remaining and his team ahead by 15 points. After the buzzer sounded, with the teams in a handshake line, Gard grabbed Howard’s arm in what appeared to be an effort to explain the situation. 

That led to a heated discussion between the two, with Howard pulling on Gard’s shirt and pointing a finger in his face. While police officers attempted to separate the teams, Howard threw out his right hand, hitting the side of Badgers assistant Joe Krabbenhoft’s head. Players from both teams then began pushing one another.

Afterward, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel released a statement saying he had already apologized to his counterpart at Wisconsin, Chris McIntosh. He added that university president Mary Sue Coleman had also reached out to Wisconsin chancellor

Rebecca Blank

“to apologize for the totally unacceptable behavior.”

“We will review the situation more thoroughly and work with the Big Ten Conference as they determine their disciplinary actions and will determine whether any further disciplinary actions are needed,” Manuel said. 

The Big Ten said it “will take swift and appropriate disciplinary action when it completes its review.” McIntosh said he had spoken to conference commissioner Kevin Warren and expected the league to “act swiftly and aggressively.” 

“There’s no room, no space for conduct like that in any competition, much less a Big Ten competition,” McIntosh said. “The Big Ten takes pride in sportsmanship. The Big Ten takes pride in acting with class. That didn’t happen today.”

When Gard called the timeout, Michigan was full-court pressing a lineup made up of Wisconsin’s backups. The Wicsonsin coach said he wanted to reset the 10-second clock to advance the ball past halfcourt. In the handshake line, Howard said that he told Gard that he would “remember” the timeout and then became upset when Gard made contact with his arm. Howard said he believed the timeout was unnecessary in light of Wisconsin’s large lead at that point in the game. The Badgers won 77-63, in a game played at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

In postgame remarks, Howard seemed to blame Gard for touching off the situation 

“I think that was very uncalled-for for him to touch me as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another,” Howard said. 

Wisconsin, which ranks No. 15 in the country in the Associated Press poll, has an overall record of 21-5 and 12-4 in the Big Ten, tied with No. 5 Purdue and No. 12 Illinois for first place. Michigan (14-11, 8-7) has struggled since reaching No. 4 in the rankings in mid-November and has been unranked since the Nov. 29 poll. The Wolverines are considered to be on the bubble for a place in the NCAA tournament with just two weeks remaining in the regular season.

This wasn’t Howard’s first altercation with an opposing coach. He was ejected during a Big Ten tournament game against Maryland last season after he got into a shouting match with Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon.

Howard became Michigan’s coach for the 2019-20 season after a successful playing career in the NBA and a stint as an assistant for the Miami Heat. Last year, the Wolverines finished in first place in the Big Ten in the regular season before losing to UCLA in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond@wsj.com