The University of Maryland told the Big Ten that Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard allegedly threatened Terps coach Mark Turgeon during a verbal altercation that broke out during the second half of the teams' game in Friday's Big Ten quarterfinal, a source with knowledge of the situation told InsideMDSports.
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.
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Michigan freshman Hunter Dickinson taunted the Terps' bench repeatedly during Michigan's win at Maryland on New Year's Eve, but according to the source, Howard also directed comments in their direction during both regular-season meetings, prompting those formal complaints. Coaches and players are generally expected not to directly address the other team's coaches and bench. Maryland didn't file a complaint today, but informally made the Big Ten aware of Howard's alleged threat. Hours later, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said no action would be taken.
"We have incredibly passionate coaches incredibly passionate players, incredibly passionate fans. Just like with all these things, our office does review it from a sportsmanship policy standpoint, which we did following the game. And there will be no further action. We feel that the officials handled it appropriately on the court and diffused the situation," he said.
"All I said [today] is don't talk to me. Don't talk to me ... Never backed down, I just stood there and said don't talk to me. That's it. The league is well aware of what's transpired the first two games and they'll handle it from here," Turgeon said. "But I was, I thought, as professional as I could try to be in the moment, standing up for myself, 34 years of doing it the right way, and for Maryland basketball. So that's all I did, was stood up for myself and Maryland program, and said don't talk to me."
pic.twitter.com/iN5H6ea6bc — Wes Brown (@W_Brown21) March 12, 2021
Howard, who had to be restrained by an assistant coach, said he felt threatened by Turgeon, who he said was "charging" him.
Here is the full sequence that led to Michigan head coach Juwan Howard being ejected during the last media timeout. pic.twitter.com/iN5H6ea6bc
— Wes Brown (@W_Brown21) March 12, 2021
"And that right there, I don't know how you was raised, but how I was raised by my grandmother and also by Chicago, because I was raised by Chicago and I grew up in the Southside, when guys charge you, it's time to defend yourself. Especially when a grown man charges you," Howard, a 48-year-old 6-foot-10 former NBA star, said of the 5-10, 56-year-old Turgeon. "And that right there, I went into defense mode, forgetting exactly where I was at. Because that's not the right way to handle the situation when you charge someone. I didn't charge him. So when he charged me, I reacted, and I reacted out of defense. So that's it, words was exchanged, and then I got tossed."
Both sides agreed it started with Turgeon complaining to the refs that Howard was outside of the coaching box.
"I'm gonna tell you the truth how it all happened. I noticed that [Galin] Smith went for an offensive rebound, but it went off his hands last. But the referee called the ball out of bounds and I think it was their possession. And I'm like, 'No, that's not how I saw it. So I was out of the coaching box and I went down to explain it's off of Smith and it's tough to communicate when it's loud and you have masks on," Howard said,
"So Turge saw that I was out of the box and was telling the referee to look at my feet, I'm out of the box. And I'm like, 'Come on, man. This is what we're going today? You're worried about my feet being out of the box?' And he said, 'Juwan I'm not gonna let you talk to me. You don't talk to me ever again,'" Howard said.
Clearly, Turgeon was still holding resentment from earlier this season, when Michigan freshman Hunter Dickinson, a Northern Virginia native who starred a few miles up the road from Maryland at DeMatha (Md.), called out Turgeon, saying he didn't recruit him hard enough. Then, when the two teams met in College Park on New Year's Eve, Dickinson repeatedly stared down Turgeon and the Maryland bench after scoring, eventually earning a technical foul.
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After that game, he went at Turgeon again.
“Hopefully I showed that the guys down the road at Madison Street are pretty good, and they should go down there some time [to recruit],” Dickinson said. “I wish we had fans ... I could have got a real welcome home from the Maryland fans.”
Howard didn't have any problem with Dickinson's antics, saying afterward: “That was one of the biggest reasons why I recruited him ... Because I love the fact that he loves basketball, he’s a great person, a hard worker, and he’s a competitor.”
But based on his comments during his recruitment, it appeared Maryland had seriously the 7-foot-2 Big Ten freshman of the year.
"I like Hunter and his family. His parents and I had a great relationship,” former Maryland assistant Dustin Clark told the Washington Post in January. “It was crazy to hear him say he wasn’t recruited by Maryland, because it’s simply not true. He was recruited as hard as any underclassman that we ever recruited to Maryland.”
Turgeon declined to respond to Dickinson, except to compliment Dickinson's talent after his 26-point, 11-rebound performance in that game.
“He was a man possessed,” Turgeon said. "We doubled a little bit, but he's a terrific passer too, now and they scored against the double teams and a couple times he scored against the double team ... He was terrific. He manhandled our guards in there."
Howard apologized to his team on Friday for getting ejected.
"I apologize to my team, which I did in the locker room for my actions. That's not the way how you handle situations like that in adverse moments. Can't let your emotions get the best of you ... I'm gonna always take ownership when I'm wrong and admit when I'm wrong, so that's not the right way to handle that situation."
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