Wolverine TV: Juwan Howard previews Michigan vs. Rutgers, Big Ten Tournament
Michigan Wolverines basketball (17-14, 11-9 Big Ten) finished tied for fifth in the Big Ten standings and earned the No. 8 seed in this week’s conference tournament in Chicago. Head coach Juwan Howard met with the media Wednesday morning (audio only) to discuss his team’s matchup with No. 9 seed Rutgers (noon ET Thursday on Big Ten Network), the event as a whole and more.
Michigan is fighting for its NCAA Tournament life. The Wolverines lost two overtime games — at Illinois and at Indiana — last week, making their chances that much slimmer. Howard was asked if the last two Michigan games felt like ‘tournament games’ already.
“I’d just say this — when you go on the road and you have two teams that are understanding that the Big Ten is a very tough, competitive conference with a lot of good teams jumbled up with similar records, getting down to the wire you know that every game matters,” Howard said. “When you get games on the road, it’s going to always be high intensity, very energetic crowd. The whole fans know what’s at stake as well.
“For us, our last two road games were Illinois and Indiana, and both are really tough teams that, in the beginning of the year, teams that were picked to win our conference. We knew that going into both environments it was going to be hostile. But we welcomed the challenge.”
The Wolverines have seen 12 of their losses come by six points or fewer or in overtime, some of them heartbreakers at the buzzer, like the last two. Howard was asked what he sees in his team that gives him hope that it can “flip the script” this postseason.
“Our team plays hard, man,” Howard said. “They play tough, they’re competitive, they show their passion out there on the floor, every possession. It’s not easy for what they’ve been going through as of late, by losing some of these tough games in very close games. But overall, I see a lot of growth in the group, and I love how hard they play every possession.
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“I just expect that, now that we play in Chicago and we’ve got one game at a time, we’re going to look at this Rutgers [matchup], and Rutgers is the opponent we’re eyeing on and game planning for, and I expect that our group is going to come out and compete.”
Listen to the full Michigan press conference below.
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