Juwan Howard takes responsibility for Michigan’s defensive struggles

The 2023- 2024 season has not gone as anticipated for Juwan Howard and his Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan currently sits in last place in the Big Ten with a 7-14 overall record and 2-8 in conference play.

Their Tuesday defeat was a case of adding insult to injury as the Wolverines were pummeled by their in-state rivals, Michigan State, 81-62. To make matters worse, the win for the Spartans was win No. 700 for their legendary head coach, Tom Izzo.

A significant reason why Howard’s Wolverines came up short against the Spartans on Tuesday was because of porous defense. Following the 19-point defeat, the Michigan headman took ownership of his team’s defensive struggles this season.

“I would say that we will continue to keep working on it. It’s a mindset; you have to really want to be dialed into wanting to play defense,” said Howard. “It’s not going to show up in the box score, it’s not going to show up on highlight moments, but you gotta have those moments where a guy’s driving in [and] contesting at the rim. And even though he dunks it, you challenging it is part of the game; it’s okay to get dunked on.”

“We can have blow-bys, can’t have uncontested shots we give to open shooters for three. That’s part of it. And I take full blame as a coach. I take the blame; it’s on me. So we’re gonna work on it; we’re gonna get better with it.

In Michigan’s last four games, they have given up an average of 91.5 points per contest while averaging just 70 points per game themselves. If this trend continues, the heat on Howard’s seat could very well be turned up full blast with the Wolverines in the market for a new men’s head basketball coach at the end of the season.

Howard describes the state of Michigan team entering February

With football season ending, more and more sports fans are working their way over to the basketball court. That means new attention on teams, even for ones like Michigan who have struggled this point of the year.

Even so, Juwan Howard doesn’t want those new eyes to misinterpret his Wolverines, even if they are 7-13 and in last in the Big Ten at 2-7. As he assessed his team in a press conference on Monday, he made it clear that Michigan remains a group that is still fighting even at their current position.

“Our team is fighting hard,” said Howard. “They’re so prideful, very competitive, and they don’t like losing. Who does?”

Howard also characterized Michigan as a unit that’s self aware and trying to improve. Although they could very easily blame one another for their issues, he sees a group that’s trying to grow individually in order to help their team find some answers overall.

“The last two ball games that we lost? Those moments mentally. What can I do better? I love hearing that from our guys,” said Howard. “That has been the mindset instead of finger pointing or divide as far it’s this guys fault or that guys fault.”

“We have guys that are all dialed in to being all in and trying to figure out solutions,” Howard said. “That’s the beauty of coaching this group.”

Michigan was playing .500-level basketball over the course of their non-conference season to start out. However, since the back half of December, the Wolverines’ campaign has come apart.