Michigan basketball's Phil Martelli explains how Juwan Howard got ejected vs. Texas Tech
Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard has not officially been head coach for a game this season, yet he's already been ejected from one.
Howard was tossed from Michigan's 73-57 loss to Texas Tech on Nov. 24 in the Battle 4 Atlantis just before halftime after a discussion with the officials following a confusing sequence to go into the break. The Red Raiders were awarded an extra possession after an inadvertent whistle with 4 seconds remaining. Texas Tech didn't end up capitalizing, but Howard had some choice words for the officials and he was gone.
"Obviously there was a lot of frustration on our side because we were not playing well," explained interim coach Phil Martelli on Friday. "Not because the game wasn't being refereed well, but frustration that we weren't playing well."
As Martelli explained, from U-M's view, a Texas Tech player went up for a dunk, hung on the rim and missed. When he came down, he then picked the ball up and traveled, which led to the whistle.
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"It was our impression we were at least getting the ball length of the floor, if not getting the ball with a technical foul," Martelli said. "We were over there diagraming for a last-second play, when they came back, they were very abrupt in saying that it was Texas Tech's ball, inadvertent whistle and there was little to no conversation or explanation."
Texas Tech then got the ball, attacked the bucket and tipped in a layup after the buzzer.
The shot was initially ruled good, then overturned upon review when it was determined to be made after time expired. It appeared Michigan was going to go into the locker room down 35-21, but Howard had a few words for referees Bret Smith, Raymie Styons and Gary Maxwell.
"Emotions are pretty high, walking off the court, Juwan had an exchange with a referee ... paraphrasing, Juwan said, 'That's not goaltending' and the guy said 'I'm going to look at it,'" Martelli said. "Then, there was a little bit of a smart response about why don't you stay and look at — something to that affect, I didn't hear that part.
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"Juwan reacted and then the guy hit him, quickly, two in a row."
Texas Tech was awarded four techincal foul free throws to begin the second half; Michigan trailed by double digits the rest of the way.
Howard has not served as head coach this season while recovering from heart surgery on Sept. 15, but beginning Saturday at Oregon, he'll begin a phased return to coaching as an assistant.
Howard has shown a temper on the court before. He was kicked out of a Big Ten tournament game in 2021 after he got into a shouting match with Maryland's then-coach, Mark Turgeon, and had to be held back. He also was suspended for the final five games of the 2022 season after a verbal altercation turned physical in Madison, Wisconsin, and he struck a Badgers assistant coach in the face during a postgame handshake line.
In comparison, last week's ejection was hardly a blip on the radar. Martelli, the longtime head coach at St. Joseph's and one of the more level-headed coaches in the nation, even said the situation probably shouldn't have happened at all.
"Big picture, they made a mistake with the hanging on the rim, and those are veteran guys," Martelli said. "The situation we were in, we were not playing well, they knew we were not playing well; just call the walk, give us the ball and everybody gets out of the half. But for whatever reason, there was a bug and it hit right there at halftime.
"If it had not been them reviewing and not been the end of the half where we were leaving the court, everybody would've been in their coaching areas and none of that would have happened. So I guess it was the imperfect storm. It wasn't the perfect storm, it was the imperfect storm."
Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Michigan basketball 'assistant' Juwan Howard got ejected last week
