Basketball brawl: Michigan Wolverines coach Juwan Howard throws punch after NCAA loss

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Michigan coach Juwan Howard threw an open-hand punch that struck Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft during an altercation in the handshake line following the Badgers’ 77-63 win on Sunday in Madison, Wis.

Howard was upset about a Wisconsin timeout with 15 seconds left and got in a verbal exchange with Badgers coach Greg Gard near the Michigan bench after the game concluded. As security tired to intervene, both head coaches had hands on each other and heated words were exchanged and others became involved before Howard delivered the right-handed punch to the face of Krabbenhoft.

The altercation intensified after the punch with players from both teams also pushing each other and throwing punches.

Howard declined to apologize after the contest and said Gard touching him led to the escalation of the situation.

“I addressed with the head coach that I will remember that, because of that timeout,” Howard said. “For someone to touch me, I think that was very uncalled for to touch me while we were verbalizing and communicating with one another. That’s what ended up happening and that’s what escalated it.

“I did not like the timeout being called, I’ll be totally honest. I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially it being a large lead.”

Gard said Howard expressed his dislike of the timeout being taken during the interaction in the handshake line.

“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 told CBS. “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.”

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh said he spoke to Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and expects that Howard will be disciplined.

“There is no place for conduct like that at 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, and that didn’t happen today. It’s unfortunate what transpired. I’ve been in contact with the league, I’ve spoken to the commissioner personally. I expect the league is going to act swiftly and aggressively. We’ve got staff that have been affected and injured, hit in the face.”

Fellow Wisconsin assistant Kyle Blackbourn appeared to be struck during the altercation as well. After the conclusion of the game, Blackbourn shared a photo of himself with a bloody mouth on Twitter with the caption: “Thanks for coming out Michigan. #OnWisconsin”

The tweet was subsequently deleted.

Last March, Howard had to be restrained during the second half of a Big Ten tourney game against Maryland after getting into a verbal disagreement with then-Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon. Howard was ejected.

Howard is in his third season as Michigan coach. He has a 56-28 record, including a disappointing 14-11 mark this season. The Wolverines are 8-7 in Big Ten play.

Howard, 49, won multiple national coach of the year awards after the Wolverines went 23-5 last season and reached the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight before losing to UCLA.

Howard was a star player at Michigan and was part of the famed Fab Five along with Chris Webber and Jalen Rose. He also played 19 NBA seasons.

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