On Thursday, during a Big Ten Quarterfinal matchup, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard admittedly lost his cool during a verbal exchange with Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon, resulting in Howard being ejected from the game.
Following the game, Howard apologized for his actions and then explained that he did what he did because Turgeon “charged” him.
“I’m like, ‘No, that’s not how I saw it.’ I was out of the coaching box. I went down to explain it was off of Smith. And it’s tough to communicate when it’s loud and you have masks on. Turg saw that I was out of the box. He’s telling the referee to look at my feet, I’m out of the box. I’m like, ‘Come on, man. This is what we doing today? You’re worrying about my feet being out of the box?’
“He said to me, ‘Juwan, I’m not gonna let you talk to me. You don’t talk to me ever again.’ And he charged at me.
Howard, according to Maryland’s communications with the conference, said to Turgeon: “I’ll f*****g kill you,” during a screaming match that saw both coaches move toward one another at midcourt and resulted in Howard’s ejection in the Wolverines’ eventual 79-66 win. Turgeon didn’t bring up that claim during his postgame conference.
“This has been going on for three games. I’ve been doing this for 34 years and I’ve called the conference office. I called the commissioner about what transpired in the first two games. And I said I wasn’t gonna take it the third game. And so I stood up for my team, I stood up for me,” Turgeon said afterward, referring to complaints Maryland had made about Howard making disrespectful comments to Maryland’s bench during the first two meetings between the two teams this season.
Nation, are you buying that Howard actually said, “I’ll f*****g kill you,” to Turgeon?
Yep