The elder statesman of Big Ten basketball coaches was not pleased with the ugly incident that happened elsewhere in the conference on Sunday.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said he was “bothered” by the brawl in the aftermath of the Michigan-Wisconsin game, which was set off by an altercation between Juwan Howard and Greg Gard in the handshake line.
“When I watched it on a big screen and I saw people swinging, I saw the fans right behind them, it reminded me of the Malice in the Palace. And it bothered me,” Izzo told reporters on Monday, per the Detroit Free Press. “But what instigated it, I don’t know that whole thing. I feel bad for Juwan, I feel bad for Gard, I feel bad for all of them that are involved in it, because nothing good comes of it. That I’ve learned in the last few years, nothing good comes of it.
“So I’ll just say that what I hope for everybody’s sake, more than the punishment that’s dealt. I hope the lessons have been learned and we move forward.”
The Big Ten, Michigan or Wisconsin had yet to announce any potential punishment for either coach as of Monday afternoon, but it is expected to come down at some point, especially for Howard, who took a swing at a Wisconsin assistant coach.
The incident was set off by Gard calling a timeout with 15 seconds left and his team up by 15 points. In the handshake line, Howard told Gard, “I’ll remember that s–t” before Gard put his hand on Howard’s arm and seemingly tried to explain himself.
But Howard did not appreciate the physical contact, appearing to repeatedly yell, “Don’t f–king touch me,” as things began to boil over.
Players then got involved in the pushing and shoving, with a few of them appearing to also throw punches.
“It was a scary situation. The reason for it all, what I saw, I have no idea. I just hope that everybody learns from it gets better,” said Izzo, who has been at Michigan State since 1995. “And it I guess it gave me a point, when we met that night, to reiterate to my players just how important it is to not get involved in anything. Forget the suspensions, I’m more worried about the injuries and what happens to players. It didn’t look good. But unlike a lot of people in the world, I’m not going to comment on something I don’t know anything about, which is pretty common nowadays.”
Izzo said he might call Howard and Gard to learn more about the incident, but offered a bigger-picture assessment of the high stress on college coaches.
“I just say it’s hard to de-escalate,” Izzo said. “I think what somebody should realize is these jobs that were high-pressured are more pressured, because now you got to worry not only about your game and what’s going on, you’re worried about players and who’s recruiting them off your team and who’s going pro. You just got so many different things, you wouldn’t appreciate how difficult that is each and every game. But there’s still right and wrong in this whole thing.”