Following Wisconsin’s 77-63 win over Michigan on Sunday, Howard and Wisconsin Men's Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard got into a verbal altercation in the postgame handshake line. Players and coaches from both teams enclosed the two before Howard hit Wisconsin Assistant Coach Joe Krabbenhoft and escalated the situation further. The incident was deemed a "clear violation" of the Big Ten Conference's Sportsmanship Policy and Michigan's proactive suspension was approved by the conference.

Of the Michigan players involved in the scrum, freshman forward Moussa Diabate and sophomore forward Terrance Williams II will be suspended for one game each and are set to be available their second regular season matchup against Michigan State. The most likely option to replace Howard in the interim is Associate Head Coach Phil Martelli, who previously served as the head coach of Saint Joseph’s from 1995 to 2019. 

During Monday’s press conference, Michigan State Men's Basketball Head Coach Tom Izzo was asked about the altercation between Howard and Gard. Izzo stressed that he was reluctant to comment due to not knowing the exact circumstances but noted that he was bothered by the situation.

“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,” he said. “I hope for everybody’s sake, more than the punishment that’s dealt out, the lesson’s have been learned and we move forward.”