WATCH: Greg Gard explains why he called timeout that led to Wisconsin-Michigan brawl
Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard wasn’t looking for any trouble Sunday against Michigan. He simply wanted to give his reserves a reasonable amount of time to advance the ball up the court.
So he called a timeout. That seemingly innocent decision would result in a huge brawl to end the game after Wolverines coach Juwan Howard threw a punch at Gard in the handshake line.
In his postgame press conference following Wisconsin’s 77-63 victory over Michigan, Gard further explained why he took the timeout.
“I had all the reserves in and I was not gonna put them in a position when the ball had already been knocked out of bounds to have to break a press with four seconds when they’re coming in cold off the bench,” Gard said. So I took a timeout, which I’m allowed to do. I brought them over and tried to get them organized. They had all been on the floor in pressure situations before and I wanted to give them the best chance to have success. I told them, ‘We’re not gonna shoot the ball. All we’re doing is breaking pressure, then we’re gonna come up and dribble out the clock.’ We were on our spot, we got organized and that is the situation that he was apparently upset with.”
There were 15 seconds remaining when the timeout was called, and Wisconsin held onto a 76-61 advantage. Although Gard hoped to use the situation as a teaching moment for his little-used players, Howard apparently didn’t see it as so. He instead took it as a personal affront, believing the Badgers were trying to run up the score on his team.
After the game, Howard doubled down on his choice to throw the punch, according to Detroit Free Press reporter Michael Cohen. He said his actions were a result of self defense after Gard touched him.
“Juwan Howard has not apologized for anything that happened,” Cohen tweeted. “Said he was upset about Wisconsin calling a timeout late in the game. He expressed that frustration to Greg Gard. Howard said Gard touched him during the postgame line and he felt the need to defend himself.”
The fallout from the situation has only just begun, with the Big Ten releasing a statement shortly after the game. The conference stated it is currently “assessing the incident” and will have more information on disciplinary action following a review.
Stay tuned to On3 for continued updates on Greg Gard, Juwan Howard and the scuffle between Wisconsin and Michigan.