Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard’s mood was light and jovial when he signed on for Monday afternoon’s video chat news conference.
Having lost eight of the past nine games, it hasn’t been the season the Wolverines hoped for. But there would be no way to tell based on the way Howard burst onto the call, opening with a quip before the last of the reporters had finished signing in.
“You guys always ask me questions, I got a question for everyone — how can y’all help me beat Michigan State?” Howard laughed. “I’ll take down some notes.”
That’s rivalry week for you.
FEELING BLUE:Michigan basketball knows it has a problem, but can’t seem to solve it
Even though Michigan (7-13, 2-7 Big Ten) has been reeling and Michigan State (12-8, 4-5 Big Ten) opened the year in the top five of the USA TODAY Coaches Poll but hasn’t been ranked the past two months, there’s still plenty of buzz expected at Breslin Center on Tuesday (9 p.m., Peacock) when the rivals, separated by 65 miles of interstate, clash for the first time on the season.
Howard made one last joke about how he expects “it’s gonna be a very home-welcoming environment for us” when his team arrives in East Lansing, before getting more serious and acknowledging all of the realizations ahead of them.
A tough game against a Hall of Fame coach in Tom Izzo who’s also looking for his team to turn a corner, another road game without lead guard Dug McDaniel who works his way through academic issues and the feelings of a program that’s headed into a full nose dive.
However, despite the fact U-M has lost 13 of its past 17 games, Howard said he’s been impressed with how the locker room has handled the struggles.
Even last week’s losses, a 32-point loss at Purdue (their biggest margin of defeat in more than 17 years) and blowing a nine-point lead to Iowa to lose 10 at home, players reflected instead of casting blame.
“Our team is fighting hard, you know, they’re so prideful, very competitive and they don’t like losing, who does?” Howard said. “The last two ball games we lost, those moments of you know, mentally ‘what could I do better?’ and I love hearing that from our guys. That has been the mindset instead of the finger pointing.
“We have guys that are dialed in, being all in to try and figure out solutions. That’s the beauty of coaching this group. My staff and I, we will continue to keep leading, continue to keep growing and teaching our group and we’ll continue to keep competing game after game. But we always want to be on that winning side, nothing like it.”
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE?Michigan AD Warde Manuel on Juwan Howard future: ‘Haven’t really given that any thought’
Where better to get on the winning side than at MSU? The Wolverines’ chief basketball rival has also struggled more than many expected this year, but there’s still that feeling that at any moment it could click with a veteran-laden team, although time is running out quickly.
Howard said the team is locking into its “Michigan vs. Everybody” mentality, knowing its going into perhaps the most hostile environment of the year, but he knows the right attitude alone won’t be enough: U-M has to fix its defense.
Not only is U-M last in the Big Ten in nearly every defensive metric, it is 168th in the Kenpom rankings and and No. 338 nationally in scoring defense (79.2 points per game).
U-M’s defense has not only struggled with shooters, but keeping people in front of them on the dribble; which doesn’t seem like a great recipe to stop MSU’s starting backcourt of Tyson Walker, who averages 19.3 points per game on 46.3% shooting and 40.2% from the 3-point line, and AJ Hoggard, averaging 11.6 points and 5.0 assists per game.
The task will be tall for Michigan, which will have to rely on Jaelin Llewellyn as the primary facilitator, the graduate guard who should be commended for how he’s worked his way back from an ACL injury last year and through a concussion this season, though he has more turnovers (13) than assists (10) this season.
If there’s an area for U-M to exploit, it’s the paint; U-M’s Tarris Reed Jr. and Will Tschetter may have an advantage over the Spartans’ big man trio of Mady Sissoko, Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler.
In years past, this may have been a top-10 matchup, with Big Ten title and NCAA tournament seeding at stake. That’s not the case this year, as the Wolverines almost certainly won’t make the postseason, and while the Spartans appear poised to dance, any March magic will again have to start with a run as a middling seed.
So the two programs that, in Howard’s words, “would never ever invite one another for dinner,” meet in a battle for pride as much as anything else.
“Our guys are pumped up and excited about this,” Howard said. “When you go into the lions den on the road … the fans cheering against you, players in their home comfort area, these coaches you know in their locker room feeling comfortable. We always enjoy playing on the road.
“Whenever you play against your rival, it’s a beautiful moment.”
Contact Tony Garcia: [email protected]. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.