Michigan men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard took a swing at Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft during a post-game handshake line on Sunday.
After Michigan fell to Wisconsin 77-63, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard stopped Howard in line, where the two appeared to argue over a late timeout called by Gard. After a heated exchange, Howard swung at Krabbenhoft with an open hand and made contact with his head. Chaos then ensued, with various players seen throwing punches as well, including Michigan forwards Moussa Diabate and Terrance Williams, and Wisconsin guard Jahcobi Neath, per ESPN.
“Apparently he didn’t like that I called the timeout to reset the 10-second call. Because we only had four seconds to get the ball over halfcourt,” Gard later said about his decision to call a timeout at 76-61 with only 15 seconds left. “I didn’t want to put my backups – I had all my bench guys in the game – I didn’t want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds. So I took a timeout and got us a new 10 seconds and it helped them get organized and get the ball in. And he did not like that when he came through the handshake line. I’ll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.”
After the incident, Howard explained what happened, sharing that he “didn’t like the timeout they called” and that he felt it wasn’t “fair” to his team.
“I addressed with the head coach that I will remember that, because of that timeout,” he said. “And for someone to touch me, I think that was very uncalled for him to touch me as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another. So that’s what ended up happening. That’s what escalated it.”
Gard also elaborated during a post-game press conference, confirming that his opposing coach told him “I’ll remember that.”
“It overshadowed [the win] momentarily,” Gard said of the scuffle. “I’m not gonna let it overshadow it much longer. Once I walk out of here, and as soon as those questions are done about that. Our team played really well in the second half and we got a damn good team.”
Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh said after the game that, after speaking with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, he anticipates the NCAA to act “swiftly and aggressively,” per CBS.
“We’ve got staff who have been affected and injured,” McIntosh said. “It’s difficult for me to compose myself in defense of our staff and our team, who did not instigate this event. That is clearly captured on the television feed today and I’m not sure what will take long to address this.”
As you might expect, people on social media had a strong reaction the incident.
