Juwan Howard says son Jett 'tried' to play against Wisconsin

After Michigan guard Jett Howard missed a second straight game due to an ankle injury, coach Juwan Howard offered an update. Juwan Howard revealed that his son wanted to play Sunday against Wisconsin, but he ultimately didn’t feel Jett was ready.

“He tried, man,” Howard said. “He tried. He practiced yesterday. Didn’t go through the full practice because I didn’t want him to go through the full practice. (It’s) the ankle that he’s been playing on all year dating back to before we played against Kentucky. …Poor young man has had bad luck in stepping on someone’s foot. You cannot control those moments. It happens in basketball. …It’s frustrating. You want to be out there and want to play and all of a sudden there’s a little freak accident that happens when you step on someone’s foot.”

The Wolverines still managed to escape with an 87-79 victory against the Badgers in overtime. However, with them sitting squarely on the bubble just weeks before Selection Sunday, Jett Howard’s return is desperately needed. He ranks second on the team with an average of 14.4 points per game.

The freshman has tried to play through the injury this season, missing just three games. He suffered a setback last week in a win against rival Michigan State that caused him to miss both contests this week.

Juwan Howard revealed that it was never the plan for his son to play Sunday. However, that didn’t stop Jett from trying his hardest to convince the staff he was going to.

“Yesterday he went through part of practice and I shared with him, ‘here’s the plan,'” Juwan Howard said. “I know my son. He shook his head, ‘yeah, yeah’ and he understood the plan. I gave him the plan that, ‘we’re gonna work through it and see how you feel the next day. Then we’ll have another day on Monday of treatment and see how practice goes and rev it up on Tuesday a little bit more.’

Then as I am working out before today’s game, our trainer said to me that Jet is going to play. ‘Excuse me? Jet is not playing. I gave him the plan. This is the plan.’ …Jet is a competitor. He does not want to miss games. He wanted to be out there for his team. I’m sorry, son. Just trust me.”

Thankfully, the Wolverines have four days until their next game against Illinois on Thursday. That should give Jett Howard plenty of time to recover, and hopefully he’ll be ready to go by then.

The final two games of the regular season represent a massive opportunity for the Wolverines, who are currently listed among the “next four out” according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. Tip-off for the game against the Fighting Illini is set for 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.