Michigan basketball is a family affair.

Freshman guard Jace Howard is, of course, the son of the program's head coach, Juwan Howard. As a class of 2020 recruit, Jace was offered a scholarship, but offered to walk on if the Wolverines needed the roster room. In the end, the numbers worked out where he could stay on scholarship, but the selfless act didn't go unnoticed.

That was an early sign — one of many which were to come — heading into the 2020-21 season that the Maize and Blue had a strong culture in place. The Wolverines went on to win the outright Big Ten regular-season title and advance to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight in Juwan Howard's second season on the job.

Juwan Howard spent 11 seasons with the Miami Heat — five as a player and six as an assistant coach — which is widely known for its almost impenetrable 'Heat Culture,' something Michigan's head man has taken, while adding his own twists, with him to Ann Arbor. It's no mistake that Howard and his staff have been seen wearing 'Michigan Culture' shirts while on the road recruiting this month.

"We pretty much duplicate it," a chuckling Jace Howard said on the Defend The Block podcast with host Brian Boesch. "They’re all about work.

"And I was so grateful to be exposed to that from such a young age. I would always go to the Heat arena. The Heat family is so great about letting us use their facilities when I was younger.

"It’s all about work. That’s what they are. Our culture is the same. We mirrored it, and obviously added our own tweaks to it. And then with college, implementing those rules inside of it."

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The program's core values are the same ones Howard has implemented within his own family, where Jace says everybody has a 'role' in which they contribute from.

"To give you a real, good answer I’d probably say it’s all about being a family, but being a connected family, sort of like a SEAL team," Jace Howard said of Michigan basketball's culture. "You hold yourself accountable, you accept constructive criticism, you apply it and you love each other.

"It’s like a brotherhood in a way. That’s the reality of it, being a brotherhood, the Michigan basketball family. We got it from the Heat, and it’s been beautiful to play out. I truly believe that’s a recipe for success, and I feel like it’s starting to show with our first couple years here at Michigan."

Like how he plays his role as a family member, Howard played his role as a freshman at Michigan last season. He appeared in just 11 games, seeing a total of 34 minutes on the floor. While he's certainly motivated to expand his duties this coming season, he embraced what he was asked to do.

"Our culture is, everybody do your job and make sure you’re four feet in for everything," Howard said. "When our roles were presented to us in the beginning of the season, my role was to pretty much get everybody better in practice, be as encouraging as I could be. So I was like, I want to do that 110 percent to the best of my ability. That was my role for the team and my opportunity to serve."

"Just how [forward] Isaiah [Livers] and [center] Hunter [Dickinson] had their roles on the team as premier scorers, I wanted to make sure that I did my role as well because it may not seem like it, but all those little things are important. Just making sure I did my part was a big thing. I’ve gotta give it to our culture. It was the same thing with our stars, as well.

"There was this one part of last year when we were losing to Illinois — we were down maybe 30 points at that point when we got in the game, and you hear our starters yelling, ‘De-fense’ and ‘lock up!’

"I get goosebumps just talking about it. That’s not a really common thing in sports at all, having the starters feel the same way after losing a primetime game to a now-rival school and they’re still rooting for the bench guys, the rotation reserve guys, while we just had a significant loss — that shows a lot about our culture."

One year into playing for his father, Howard is happy about the decision he made to join him in Ann Arbor, saying he has learned more basketball from Juwan in the past year than he had the prior 18 years of his life. He's been able to tell recruits exactly what it's like to play for the Wolverines, and can provide first-hand accounts.

Now, Howard, who has taken his training seriously this offseason, is working hard to make a bigger impact next season, and shooting has been No. 1 on the list of what to improve. He has worked with Heat shooting coach Rob Fodor, renowned trainer Stanley Remy and several professional players, and has taken positive steps forward.

"[I've been] doing strength and conditioning, ball handling and stuff like that," Howard said. "But specifically shooting shots off the dribble, left-hand post game and just confidence, just playing, playing, playing. Open gyms with [Brooklyn Nets wing] Justin Anderson, [NBA free agent] Brandon Knight, [forward] Chris Silva from the Heat, [former Michigan Wolverine] Charles Matthews was in there with us, [former Michigan guard and NBA Draft hopeful] Mike Smith, [former Michigan guard and current Indiana Pacer] Caris LeVert, I was just working out with him yesterday. It’s been work.

"Shooting — I wanted to make sure I became a consistent shooter to where I felt like there wasn’t any lack in my game. We do a lot of shooting in practice, and being the competitor that I was, I wanted to make sure I finish top of those drills instead of middle — it’s the competitor in you."

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