According to sources, Michigan coach Juwan Howard will be suspended for the rest of the season for hitting Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft in the face.
An official announcement as well as punishments for the other coaches and players involved in the postgame altercation is expected Monday night. The discipline is expected to include hefty fines.
Gard replaced his walk-ons in the final minute of the game. Gard called a timeout to settle his team and give them a chance to cross halfcourt without turning the ball over as Michigan pressed full-court.
Gard grabbed Howard's arm as he tried to stop and talk to him. Howard grabbed Gard's shirt and put his finger in Gard's face after the two men exchanged words. Krabbenhoft came over in the middle of the scrum, exchanged words with Howard, and then Howard struck Krabbenhoft in the face.
Both teams began pushing and shoving, with Michigan forwards and Wisconsin guard throwing punches.
Howard said he was angry at Wisconsin. The Badgers called two timeouts in the last minute, one with 15 seconds left, when they were leading by 15.
Howard said that he didn't like the timeout that was called. I thought that was unfair to our guys. That is what happened.
He said someone from Wisconsin made contact with him.
I don't think it was right for someone to touch me as we were talking to one another. He said that that was what made it escalate.
Gard explained his rationale for the timeouts in an interview with CBS.
Apparently he didn't like that I called the timeout to reset the call. Gard told CBS that he didn't want to put his backups in that position. I took a timeout and gave them a new 10 seconds to organize and get the ball in. He didn't like that when he came through the line. I will leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.
Michigan will play at Ohio State in the regular-season finale after four straight home games. When Howard was ejected from the Big Ten tournament last year, associate head coach Phil Martelli took over.
Yahoo! Sports was the first to report the suspension.