WATCH: Juwan Howard, Michigan players react to Nebraska loss
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Juwan Howard, graduate guard Nimari Burnett, senior forward Terrance Williams II and fifth-year senior forward Jackson Selvala met with the media following their team’s 85-70 loss to Nebraska to close out the regular season.
Watch video of Howard in the player at the top of the screen and the players in the embed below.
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Nimari Burnett, Terrance Williams II and Jackson Selvala
Juwan Howard talks Michigan season
Michigan was in the Elite Eight in 2021 and made the Sweet 16 the following season. However, the Maize and Blue missed the NCAA Tournament last season and are likely to do so again this year, with their only hope being to win five games in as many days in the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis later this week. Howard was asked what it’s going to take to return Michigan to the level of success it’s used to having.
“Well, 2021, we went to the Elite Eight. In 2022, we went to the Sweet 16,” Howard said. “We had a disappointing year where we didn’t make the tournament last year. Now, we still have an opportunity and a chance to make the tournament. We play in the Big Ten Tournament, which starts on Wednesday for us.
“We are going to look at it one game at a time. This season is now over — by no means.”
Continued the Michigan coach, asked how he defends the job he’s done with the Wolverines this season and what the future holds: “Well, first, it starts with the players and staff. All of us have felt like this hasn’t been the season that we’ve wanted. But the season — like I said earlier — is not over. We still have more season to be played.
“It’s been a disappointing Big Ten regular season for us at 3-17. And I know that a lot of our fans want more. So do we. We’re going to continue to keep grinding in the gym, keep working to get better. And that at season’s end, we will evaluate and see areas that we have to improve on in order to get back to that, what we’ve all been used to, having a very competitive team with an opportunity to win a national championship.”
Later in the press conference, Howard added: “We’re going to grind like no other this summer to work on getting better and getting back to what a lot of the Michigan basketball fans have been used to, and that’s winning.”
