What Juwan Howard said after Michigan basketball beat Purdue Fort Wayne
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A solid win with some growing pains — that’s how Michigan basketball head coach Juwan Howard categorized the Wolverines’ 75-56 win over Purdue Fort Wayne.
It was a solid offensive effort, though certainly not perfect, while the defense had some lapses that confounded the third-year coach of the maize and blue. However, he has no distress over it, considering it was the first game of the season — something he emphasized repeatedly in his postgame press conference.
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From seeing both of his sons on the court at the same time, to Joey Baker’s play, to the team’s unselfishness, the Michigan basketball head coach had a lot to say after the win. Here is everything he said in his postgame press conference.
How do Jett and Hunter complement each other?
Well, Hunter — now he’s, in my opinion, and three years of coaching him, high IQ player, is very unselfish. Great passer, now he gets double-teamed. He’s going to do his best to try to make the right play by finding open guys. And for the spacing that we have on the floor, Jett is going to be a recipient of it. T-will, Kobe, Joey, I mean, the list goes on. And so, Jett was one of the guys also that got some good open looks because of Hunt being doubled, but also Jett made some plays himself.
Watching Jett and Jace play for Michigan basketball at the same time
Oh, it’s a dream come true. Because that’s something that never happened. You know, every day, it’s one of those moments where you have a special time in your life where you get an opportunity to coach at your alma mater, and then knowing the times when you were in the NBA, or you were coaching in the NBA, how much you love your alma mater. And we talked about the only college they will go to would be Michigan, teaching them the fight song and Michigan and Ohio State playing that football rivalry game, dressing up all my kids and my wife and my dog in Michigan and maize and blue. And now to see it all come to fruition, and seeing the opportunity, how it’s presented, with the growth of both boys, and since watching them, like you just touched on, in the backyard, watch them in high school practice, then AAU, and now here in Ann Arbor, in front of our great crowd cheering them on, it is really a blessing.
Also, to see a mom, that kind of piqued my eye over at her, because I could hear her. Like, the excitement and you know, she has a smile that she’s having each and every possession — it’s a blessing.
Jaelin Llewellyn and Dug McDaniel's differences
Well, they both pass-first point guards, smart, unselfish and (their) teammates enjoy playing with (them). There’s gonna be some times when you see them both play together out there on the floor. But we’re just still filling things out. This is our first game. But it’s nice to see we have both guys that we can use in different situations that I trust is going to lead us.
On the defense
They’ve always bought in but you know, it’s about continue to keep growing it. And, obviously, accountability is a part of it. There’s no room for a lack of effort — not saying that we had that — there’s no room for not being detailed. Exactly what we practice and how we show it on film and how we talk about it and hear their voice on how to fix certain situations out there on the floor.
And I know like while the game is happening, things (are) moving so fast. And it’s totally different from when you’re playing against the scout team. But you know, at times I get a little out of whack, too, when we don’t do what we work on what we asked. But overall I love that there was effort and a team that shoots very well from the 3-point landing, for them only 23% from the 3 and 29% from the field and scoring is one of their strengths. And they said this upcoming season that’s one of the things that they are going to continue to keep growing on is attacking the paint scoring within seven seconds in the shot clock. And then so — they obviously said they want to play with pace. And then I also talked about how (the) 3-point shooting is going to be a strength and it was good to know that we worked on that for those last two days. And our guys were able to apply that.
How does he see the team jelling?
Well, you’re not where you want to be so early in the season. This is only our first game. And there is room for growth. And we’re going to continue to keep getting better. And there’s areas that we’re going to try to clean up, but I love where our mindset is. And you know, our guys are really dialed in and in tune to being an elite-level group. And I love how they are so connected. I just hope that continues throughout the years, the first game and I’m sure we’re going to hit a rough patch. Pretty much vast majority of college basketball teams do. But it’s how we’re going to react when we have those uncomfortable moments.
What does he say to Kobe Bufkin when the shots aren't falling?
Everyone’s gonna do fine — it’s his first game. Please stop, stop that. Young man is gonna be great this year. And we’re gonna need him. And he knows it.
I have no worry in any of our guys.
How does he come up with the various lineups?
That’s the part right there that you just mentioned — there are going to be so many different lineups or there may be so many different guys that may play one game, some may not play one game because we have a deep team. And you know — but we also have a team that’s still growing. And we are young. And there are going to be some moments where you see one guy might not play one game, he might play the next game. But I’m still filling the group out. And we’re not there where we want to be yet. We have a long season. Just the first game.
Joey Baker's game and why he was able to be productive
Trust, trust. He got some good defensive stops and then went down on the other end. And he just made some really good plays. And the reason why I say trust is it was because there was some unselfish plays that happened. And when you have a group that continuously keeps feeding life into one another on the court, and then you have a group to sit on a bench waiting to get in and they’re being so positive and encouraging. You have runs like that and hopefully will continue to keep growing.
How close are Youssef Khayat and Will Tschetter to being involved?
We’re gonna need everyone. And it’s gonna be a long year. So stay ready. Stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.
Joey Baker's ability to stretch the floor
With joey, we all know is documented that he’s played at Duke (in) one of the best conferences in college basketball, the ACC. Played for a hall of fame coach. Right? So he’s been coached and kid knows how to play. One of his strengths is shooting and I don’t want him pass up any open shots. Let it fly. Make a miss, we live with the results.
Poor rebounding in the game
Yeah, I emphasized that during halftime and halftime we gave up six offensive rebounds in the first half, and looking at the sheet here, total 15. We will get better in that area. And you know over the years we’ve always been a really good rebounding team.
Was it a box-out issue?
It’s more of effort and also putting the body on someone. But first game, we will get better. I’m not panicking.
Jett as a distributor
He’s been around the game for a long time. He also has a high IQ. He’s a willing passer, he has great size, he sees the floor. I’ve seen that from day one when he first started playing basketball. And, the ball is gonna be in his hands. And at times, you’re gonna make some good plays, there’s gonna be some times, just like new freshmen, you’re gonna make some mistakes. Might be a turnover because he’s trying to make some plays that probably — he may saw the guy open and then the defense sort of collapse quickly, because it’s college level, you get some older guys that are bigger and faster and active. They also scout you on film like how we scout them. So he’ll learn and grow and I know he will, because he loves the game.
I want this kid to enjoy his college life, man, I don’t want to make an emphasize that my dad is gonna be so hard on him, because I’m not. But I’m also gonna coach him. And you can see that in the first half when there were two or three different defensive mistakes and had sit him down and calm down and figure out where the areas that he probably thought he didn’t mess up on. But we gave him clarity that he did and it was great to see that he responded and came back in and played really well because he could do the opposite ofsulking. But that’s not how he’s wired.
