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- Juwan Howard and Greg Gard got into a very heated altercation after Sunday’s game between Michigan and Wisconsin.
- The broadcast video is one thing, but a full, on-court video of the exchange provides great context into what went down.
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The end of Sunday’s basketball game between Wisconsin and Michigan was wild. After the Badgers beat the Wolverines by 14, things got ugly in a hurry.
What began as gamesmanship between the two sides quickly turned to chaos in the handshake line.
After a made basket with less than a minute left, down by double-digits, Michigan pressed the Wisconsin offense. In turn, Badgers head coach Greg Gard called a timeout.
Once the timeout finished and the ball was inbounded, the Wolverines fouled and extended the game even further. As CBS’ broadcast crew pointed out, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard “may not have been happy” about the timeout and called the foul in retaliation.
When the clock hit zero, Howard went to the back of the handshake line, rather than leading the way as normal. It was sure to set up a tension-filled handshake, but what happened next was crazy.
As Howard moved through the line without making eye-contact with Gard, Gard put his hand on Howard to stop his progress. From there, Howard backed up and grabbed Gard’s pullover.
While the two continued to exchange words, players from both teams started getting into it with one another. Meanwhile, Howard reached out and hit a Wisconsin assistant coach with an open hand.
The entire thing was truly wild.
On-court video of the incident has since been released and it gives a lot more context to what went down.
Take a look:
Here's really good raw video of the aftermath of #Michigan and #Wisconsin. You can clearly hear Juwan Howard say "I'll remember that" to Greg Gard prior to the altercation.
(Video courtesy of WKOW. Caution unedited, NSFW language.) pic.twitter.com/27N2q1OD8I
— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) February 20, 2022
Howard made a commented “I’ll remember this s***” as he tried to walk by without shaking Gard’s hand. Gard tried to respond and stopped Howard. Howard didn’t like that Gard put his hands on him and said “don’t f****** touch me” and then the fireworks exploded.
At the end of the day, both Gard and Howard played a role in the altercation. The latter, obviously, more so than the former.
Howard will likely receive a significant suspension that will presumably keep him out of at least the remainder of the 2021/22 season. Meanwhile, Gard should also receive a suspension (perhaps one game) for escalating the situation.
It will be curious to see how the entire thing plays out, and if Howard is able to keep his job. Either way, the on-court video provides a lot more context into what went down and should be the primary basis for any punishment.