All Michigan coach Juwan Howard intended to do, he said, when he started walking toward the baseline during the second half of Friday’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals was question a call.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon, meanwhile, had seen enough. He didn’t like what he had heard during the teams’ previous two games and didn’t appreciate the conference’s response when he reported his concerns.
Moments after Turgeon told Howard not to speak to him, a shouting match broke out. A tense situation quickly escalated, tempers flared and both teams gathered near midcourt, with officials rushing in to hold back each side.
The 6-foot-9 Howard had to be restrained, drew two technical fouls and was ejected with 10 minutes, 44 seconds left. Minus their coach, No. 4 Michigan pulled away for a testy 79-66 victory.
After the game, Howard apologized for his actions — and also placed blame on the other bench.
“That’s not how you handle things under adverse conditions,” he said before explaining his version of what happened.
“He said, ‘Juwan, I’m not going to let you talk to me. Don’t talk to me ever again,’ Then he charged at me. I don’t know how you were raised, but the way I was raised is when someone charges you, you defend yourself.”
Turgeon was called for a technical foul but not ejected.
“This has been going on for three games,” Turgeon said. “I’ve been doing this for 34 years and I’ve called the conference office, I’ve called the commissioner and I said ‘I won’t take it the third game.’ So I stood up for myself and my team. All I said is, ‘Don’t talk to me, don’t talk to me.’ “
Maryland scored five points after the fracas to cut the deficit in half.
“Coach is a really competitive guy and the game got competitive, we knew we had to have his back,” Michigan guard Mike Smith said.
Smith helped steady the Wolverines (20-8) by scoring a season-high 18 points while dishing out a tournament-record 15 assists.
Michigan next faces longtime rival No. 9 Ohio State on Saturday in the semifinals.
Down by 12 early, the top-seeded and regular-season champion Wolverines swung the game by ending the first half on a 16-2 run and starting the second half on an 11-4 spurt. Franz Wagner and Eli Brooks each scored 16 points as Michigan reached the semifinal for a fifth consecutive time.
Eric Ayala scored 19 points and Darryl Morsell added 16 to lead the eighth-seeded Terrapins (16-13). Morsell also had six rebounds to become the 33rd player in school history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
A strong finish — and Thursday’s victory over Michigan State — should be enough for Maryland to get an NCAA Tournament bid. But shooting 74% from the field through the first 15 minutes, the Terrapins’ shooting touch went away, and the predictable result was a third straight loss in this season series.
After starting the game 14 of 19 from the field, Maryland went 12 of 35 over the final 25 minutes.
After some early jitters, the Wolverines settled down and played their game. Michigan is 7-2 since resuming basketball activities following a COVID-19 shutdown, with six of those wins by at least seven points. The biggest impediment to a tournament title this weekend might be fatigue.
Iowa 62, Wisconsin 57: Luka Garza scored 24 points, Joe Wieskamp made two key baskets late and Iowa fended off Wisconsin.
The third-seeded and fifth-ranked Hawkeyes (21-7) rallied from a six-point halftime deficit behind Garza. Their all-time leading scorer dominated inside, making 10 of 15 field goals and 4 of 5 free throws.
Iowa advanced to face second-seeded and third-ranked Illinois in Saturday’s semifinals.
The game was tied at 52 when Wieskamp maneuvered into the paint to take advantage of a size mismatch with close-range baskets on consecutive possessions, the latter for a 56-52 lead with 2:35 remaining. He finished with 10 points. Iowa had a 38-20 edge in points in the paint.
The sixth-seeded Badgers (17-12), who entered the tournament having lost five of six, never recovered. Wisconsin dropped another close game because it couldn’t make clutch shots.
D’Mitrik Trice led Wisconsin with 19 points, but with the Badgers trailing by four in the final minute, he was unable to get the ball inbounds in five seconds, sealing the outcome.
The Hawkeyes swept the season series from the Badgers, including a 77-73 win five days ago in Iowa City.
Wisconsin finished the first half with a 7-2 run to take a 32-26 lead, but Iowa responded with a 7-0 run early in the second half to trim the deficit to one. The teams traded the lead five times in the final 11 minutes.
Ohio State 87, Purdue 78 (OT): Seth Towns scored six of his season-high 12 points in overtime, helping No. 9 Ohio State beat No. 21 Purdue.
With two wins in two days, the Buckeyes (20-8) will face longtime rival and conference regular-season champion Michigan in Saturday’s first semifinal. Duane Washington Jr. scored 20 points for Ohio State, which led by 18 at halftime.
Trevion Williams finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds and five for Purdue (18-9), which saw its five-game winning streak end. Jaden Ivey added 19 points.
For the Buckeyes it was another harrowing close call. Just 24 hours after Minnesota cut a 14-point lead to one in Ohio State’s tournament opener, they gave away the 49-31 halftime lead.
Then came Towns’ flurry. He opened overtime by making one of two free throws and made it a two-possession game when his 3-pointer with 2:53 to play made it 78-74.