Juwan Howard explains Joey Baker's lack of minutes vs. Indiana

Guard Joey Baker has been a key bench contributor to Juwan Howard’s Michigan team throughout the season. But the graduate transfer did not do much in the Wolverines’ 75-73 overtime loss to Indiana.

Just a few games after starting and playing 36 minutes against Wisconsin, Baker played just four minutes against the Hoosiers. It was his lowest minutes total of the season.

Howard said in his postgame press conference that Baker’s minutes were limited just by the flow of the game.

“The second half, we had that group going pretty well,” Howard said. “It was just tough to break it up. Those guys were not gonna let me sell them out of the game because they were there to fight and claw. We saw it.”

Baker has been struggling to shoot the ball in recent weeks. Heading into Sunday’s game. Baker was 8 of 36 from the field in his prior six games.

But Howard did add that Baker is dealing with a little bit of a knock but praised him after the game for his toughness.

“Joe is Joe,” Howard said. “He’s tough as nails. He fell so hard on his back last game against Illinois and jumped right up right away and took the ball. I see some players just lay there for maybe a entire timeout. Not Joe. He’s tough.”

Juwan Howard says he is confident in his team heading into the Big Ten Tournament

Michigan enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face ninth-seeded Rutgers in the second round of the tournament on Thursday. The Wolverines finished the regular season with a 17-14 record and 11-9 mark in the conference.

Juwan Howard said after the loss to Indiana that despite the up-and-down regular season, he is confident in Hunter Dickinson, Joey Baker and his entire team heading into postseason play.

“Man I’ve been having confidence in this team all season long,” Howard said. “I’m with them every day, I work with them, I see the work they put in. I see the talent, the skill level, I know where their heart is at, I listen to some of their stories.”