MADISON — Big Ten basketball is known for it's physicality and after Sunday afternoon's game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Michigan Wolverines, things took a turn for the worse.
After the Badgers defeated Michigan 77-63, there was a confrontation between Michigan head coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard, about Gard's use of timeouts with little time remaining in the game and a big lead. Howard eventually struck Badgers assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in the face.
"Apparently he didn't like that I called a timeout to reset the 10 second call," Gard said about why Howard was mad. "We only had four seconds to get the ball over half-court and I didn't want 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. I took a timeout, it got us a new 10 seconds and helped them get organized to 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.
Here was what Howard said after the game.
"I didn't like the timeout being called to be totally honest," Howard said. "I thought it was not necessary at that moment. Especially being a large lead. Then having a timeout being called with three—four seconds to go, I felt that that was — what I felt — wasn't fair to our guys. That's what happened."
Michigan’s Moussa Diabate and Terrance Williams also were seen throwing punches in the altercation.
The Big Ten Conference gave a statement shortly after the game.
"The Big Ten Conference is aware of a physical altercation involving Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard at the conclusion of the Michigan Wolverines and Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball game. The conference is in contact with both member institutions and is currently assessing the incident. The conference will provide more information and will take swift and appropriate disciplinary action when it completes its review."
