Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Howard Excited For Big Ten Play
ANN ARBOR — Michigan head coach Juwan Howard has more than held his own in the early going, off to a 7-1 start that’s earned his team a top-five (No. 4) ranking. He and his team start Big Ten play Friday night against Iowa, a switch from his playing days when conference play started in January.
The league started scheduling two conference games in December just a few years ago, something to which Howard didn’t give a second thought.
“I don’t now the difference between December and January,” he said, noting he was just excited to play against a good Iowa team.
He expects his players felt the same way about the challenge that he did back in the early 1990s when he wore the uniform.
“It’s a super-competitive conference, a physical conference … a conference that any given night if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game, you’re going to get beat,” Howard said. “Also, when you play on the road, some of the toughest games on the road are in the Big Ten. That’s what I can recall from my time as a player here … that was the reason why I chose the Big Ten."
Nothing against the other conferences, he said, but there’s something different about the Big Ten. The conference proved itself against the best of the best in winning the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, eight games to six, and has several teams in or near the top 10.
Howard was aware of the challenge when he first took the job. He dove right in to scouting the Big Ten teams after he accepted the job.
“I started my project this past summer, and the first team I started my project with was Iowa. The second team was Illinois,” he said of next week’s road opponent. “I have a lot of notes I’ve written down I’m reflecting on now that will prepare me for tomorrow’s game. It wasn’t something I started just a few days ago.
“I looked at the big picture as far as what I’m up against, what our goals are, what we’re trying to achieve. I knew this summer I would have to get into some of the teams I know I’m going to face throughout the conference.”
The response to the first loss, meanwhile — a 58-43 setback at Louisville — has been “beautiful,” Howard added. No one likes to lose, he said, but he noted his players came in with a “let’s get back to work” mindset.
“You’ve got to stay positive throughout the process,” he said. “We played the No. 1 team on their home court. We did not like the outcome, saw some areas we could have been better at throughout the game. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t fall for us. The message is we’ve got to keep grinding, forging ahead.
“Overall, they did a very good job defensively, bringing everyone to the paint, trying to limit our paint touches, forcing the ball out to our shooters and did a good job closing to our shooters. Some of the shots we got were open; we just didn’t knock them down.”
It was also their first game as a top five team. Howard admitted he had “no idea” if that weight on his squad, but he didn’t seem to care. He's already moved on, readying for the next one.
“At the end of the day, basketball is a very competitive game,” he said. “When you’re a competitor, you’re going to embrace opportunities like this. I know each and every guy in our locker room, they’re very competitive, passionate about the game of basketball. They look forward to each matchup.
“Come Friday, we’re really excited about the opportunity for our first Big Ten game at home on our home court.”
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