Juwan Howard will be dismayed to learn that most people contract chicken pox only once.
The Michigan center missed last week with the disease. On the day after he was cleared to play, he lit up Illinois for 20 points to help the 15th-ranked Michigan Wolverines to a 74-70 victory over Illinois Sunday afternoon in Assembly Hall. Howard came out smoking, hitting 7 of 10 shots in the first half.
“I felt weak for a while,” he said. “But at times I was kind of surprised that I kept knocking them down.”
Howard pitched in with the defense that limited Illini star Deon Thomas to six shots from the floor.
“We would have been hopelessly beaten without Juwan,” said Michigan coach Steve Fisher, who already was without chicken pox victim Jimmy King.
Last year Howard, a CVS grad, burned the Illini for 18 in Michigan’s overtime victory in Assembly Hall.
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It would have taken more than chicken pox to keep Howard out with dozens of friends and family in the seats.
“He’d have pounded knots in my head if I hadn’t started him,” Fisher said.