Feb. 21 (UPI) — Michigan men’s college basketball coach Juwan Howard was suspended for the remainder of the regular season and fined $40,000 for striking Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in the face following Sunday’s game, the Big Ten Conference announced Monday.
The conference also announced that Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard was fined $10,000, but he wasn’t issued a suspension. Krabbenhoft wasn’t disciplined for his role in the incident.
In addition, Michigan forwards Terrance Williams and Moussa Diabate and Wisconsin guard Jahcobi Neath each were suspended one game. All three appeared to throw punches during the altercation.
The disciplinary measures were imposed by the Big Ten, in conjunction with both schools.
“Big Ten Conference coaches and student-athletes are expected to display the highest level of sportsmanship conduct,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement. “I am grateful for the partnership with Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel and Wisconsin athletics director Chris McIntosh.
“Our expectation is that the incident [Sunday] will provide our coaches and student-athletes with the opportunity to reflect, learn and move forward in a manner that demonstrates decorum and leadership on and off the court.”
In the final minute of the Badgers’ 77-63 win over Michigan on Sunday, Gard substituted his walk-on players into the game. Michigan, which still had its regular rotation on the floor, was using a full-court press, causing Gard to call a timeout to settle his players and give them an opportunity to cross halfcourt without a turnover.
After the final buzzer sounded, Gard grabbed Howard’s arm as the coaches walked past each other in the traditional handshake line. The two men exchanged words, with Howard shoving his finger in Gard’s face and grabbing Gard’s shirt before multiple players and coaches surrounded them.
Krabbenhoft then joined the scrum and exchanged words with Howard, who reached out and struck Krabbenhoft in the face.
Both teams started pushing and shoving in the brawl, with the Wolverines’ Diabate and Williams and Wisconsin’s Neath appearing to trade punches.
During his postgame news conference, Howard said he was upset about Gard’s timeout usage in the closing minute. The Badgers called two timeouts in the last minute of the game, including one with just 15 seconds left when Wisconsin led by 15.
“I didn’t like the timeout they called, and I’m being totally honest with you,” Howard said. “I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially with it being a large lead. … I thought that wasn’t fair to our guys. And so that’s what happened.”
Howard also noted that someone from Wisconsin made contact with him, but he didn’t specify who hit him.
“Someone touched me, and I think it was very uncalled for, for them to touch me, as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another,” he said. “That’s what escalated it.”
In a postgame interview with CBS, Gard explained his reasoning for using the timeouts, particularly the one that came with only 15 seconds left.
“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 the network. “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.”
Michigan has five games remaining in the regular season. The Wolverines (14-11 overall, 8-7 in Big Ten) have four consecutive games at home before playing at Ohio State in their regular-season finale.
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