*The handshake line after Sunday’s Michigan-Wisconsin game erupted into chaos and culminated in a Michigan coach Juwan Howard claw-smacked a member of Wisconsin’s coaching staff.
The following is based on explanations given by both sides during post game press conferences:
This foolishness was all sparked by a timeout taken by Wisconsin when they were up 77-63 with 15 seconds left in the game. Howard thought that was petty, a blatant sign of disrespect to his players. Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said he called the timeout only to give his reserve players, coming into the game cold, a plan to inbound the ball and get it across court against Michigan’s full court press.
Back to the handshake line. Howard usually leads his team in handshakes, but this time he went to the back, and planned to keep walking past Gard without shaking his hand. As they approached each other, Gard grabbed Howard’s arm in an attempt to stop him from simply walking past. Howard was triggered by Gard touching him, and words were exchange, including Howard telling Gard he “would remember” that timeout. Finger pointing ensued and then players and coaches from both teams began to swarm and jostle.
Then suddenly, Howard’s open claw swooped down and found the head of Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft. Why him? He must’ve said something messy.
Watch it all go down below (first the CBS broadcast video, then raw footage allowing us to hear what the coaches said to each other before the melee), followed by post-game comments from both Howard and Gard about the melee:
The below video from WKOW’s Pablo Iglesias begins with Howard approaching Gard in the handshake line, visibly upset saying, “I’ll remember that s—.” Gard then grabbed Howard’s shirt, prompting Howard to respond multple times: “Don’t f—— touch me!”
Caution: Unedited, NSFW language.
Here’s my full raw look at the events that led to the postgame brawl following the 77-63 #Wisconsin win over #Michigan.
You can see Juwan Howard say “I’ll remember that” to Greg Gard, who said tried explaining himself. pic.twitter.com/stBbFIGqTJ
— Pablo Iglesias (@PabloIglesiasTV) February 20, 2022
