Michigan coach Juwan Howard turned the handshake line into a haymaker line Sunday afternoon after his Wolverines got pummeled by host Wisconsin.
A fight broke out between Michigan and Wisconsin during the postgame handshake line. pic.twitter.com/AiWIwyzj8w
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) February 20, 2022
"Juwan Howard just threw a right hand!” CBS announcer Andrew Catalon said as the former Fab Fiver kicked off the brouhaha with his slap/punch/mush to the face of Badger assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft. “And now we’ve got a scrum! We’ve got a scrum in Madison!”
According to the broadcaster, Howard was miffed that Wisconsin coach Greg Gard had called a timeout late in the 77–63 blowout. Gard said as much in his postgame interview:
"Apparently, he didn't like that I called a timeout."
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) February 20, 2022
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard explains what led to the postgame fight with Juwan Howard and the Michigan team. pic.twitter.com/tjgRpGsCQB
Judging from his own postgame comments, Howard isn't exactly the picture of remorse:
Juwan Howard has not apologized for anything that happened. Said he was upset about Wisconsin calling a timeout late in the game. He expressed that frustration to Greg Gard. Howard said Gard touched him during the postgame line and he felt the need to defend himself. #Michigan
— Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) February 20, 2022
Howard said it was unfortunate that some of the players also threw punches. He admired them for backing each other up but didn’t want it to go that way. Howard’s presser is over. He did not apologize for his actions. #Michigan
— Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) February 20, 2022
Making himself the center of attention by being a bonehead has become old hat for Howard. He did his best to start a brawl last year during the Big 10 tournament and was ejected from a quarterfinal game for going after former Maryland coach Mark Turgeon. Howard interjected himself in a less violent way last week at Iowa, getting a technical for absentmindedly walking onto the court to pick up a rolling basketball.
Back to me: I was at a charity fundraiser on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in the '90s when Howard was in the middle of his ho-hum stint with the team that drafted him out of Michigan, the Washington Bullets. There were a pair of Juwan Howard’s sweat pants up for auction, with a $12 starting bid. Nobody bid on them, and I saw an organizer of the event toss Howard’s unwanted collectible into a box at the end of the night. Watching the tape of Howard throwing his right hand over and over, I was mostly thinking about how I could’ve had those sweat pants for just $12.
