Michigan coach Juwan Howard allegedly threatened Maryland coach Mark Turgeon during an altercation in the second half of their Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal matchup.
According to a report from InsideMDSports’ Jeff Ermann, Howard said to Turgeon “I’ll f------ kill you,” during the fracas that led to Howard’s ejection. Ermann reported Maryland has communicated that statement to the Big Ten conference.
The altercation occurred with Michigan up 57-47 with 10:44 remaining. The Wolverines would go on to win by 13 before falling to Ohio State in the tournament semifinals.
The Team 980’s Kevin Sheehan said on Monday that Maryland made a formal complaint to the Big Ten, but “the league did nothing about it.”
Both Howard and Turgeon said after the game the altercation began with Howard overstepping the coaching box.
"[Turgeon] saw that I was out of the box and he tells the referee to look at my feet, I’m out of the box,” Howard said. “I’m like, ‘Come on, man. This is what we’re doing today? You’re worried about my feet being out of the box?’ So 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.
Related
"I don’t know how you guys was raised but how I was raised by my grandmother and also by Chicago – cause I was raised by Chicago, I grew up on the South Side – when guys charge you, it’s time to defend yourself. Especially when a grown man charges you. And that right there, I went into defense mode and forgot exactly where I was at because that’s not the right way to handle the situation."
According to Turgeon, the shouting match between the two coaches was simmering from their previous meetings during the regular season.
"This has been going on for three games," Turgeon said after the game. "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."
Sheehan added there was a root cause for the incident: Michigan freshman Hunter Dickinson.
Dickinson, a Northern Virginia native out of DeMatha, repeatedly stared down Turgeon and the Terps bench when the teams met in College Park on New Year’s Eve.
“But Dickinson has been obsessed with Maryland and this claim that he made prior to their first meeting,” Sheehan said on Monday. “That Maryland didn’t recruit him and didn’t offer him, which is 100 percent false.”
Sheehan said the Terps recruited Dickinson aggressively and offered him a scholarship when he was a sophomore.
(Listen to the full segment from Monday's Kevin Sheehan Show beginning here at 19:49)
“And Dickinson was the source of frustration between Turgeon and Juwan because Turgeon felt like Juwan as the coach should have said to his player, ‘You don’t taunt the other coach,’” Sheehan said.
“You seem totally obsessed with Maryland not offering you and not recruiting you, which by the way, again, is not true. That’s the root of all of this. Turgeon and Maryland not responding… telling the league that they’re upset, but not going public with how upset they were. Others did that on their behalf. And being upset with Juwan Howard as a coach for not stopping a player from being outrageously disrespectful. And, by the way, fibbing about the whole thing.”
Turgeon told the Maryland radio broadcast he engaged with Howard to stick up for his program.
"Conversations should never happen, especially negative, between coaches [during the game] and it's been that way," Turgeon said. "I've let the league office know, I've let the referees know, everybody was aware of the situation. And I told them if I was talked to again I was gonna talk back, because there wasn't much done the first two times. So I just stood my ground and said, 'Don't talk to me.' And that was it."
Neither coach mentioned the alleged threat during their postgame comments. Howard did apoligize for the incident.
"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,” Howard said after the game. “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."
Listen to Kevin Sheehan's inerview with Mark Turgeon starting at 21:28 here:
Follow @BenKrimmel for the latest.