Michigan State basketball: Juwan Howard had a bizarre post-loss presser

It’s always good to beat your rival but what Michigan State basketball did to Michigan made even Juwan Howard spiral after the game.

When it comes to bizarre post-loss interviews, Michigan fans can usually expect that from Jim Harbaugh. After losing to Tom Izzo and Michigan State basketball on Saturday, however, it was Juwan Howard who took to the podium and gave one of the most aggressively bizarre pressers of the season.

It had to be a frustrating loss for Howard and the Wolverines as they played the Spartans close for 20 minutes, going tit-for-tat in the first half and even holding a six-point lead.

The second half was all Michigan State as a four-point lead turned into a 16-point win for the Spartans and Howard was left with more questions than answers.

And that was evident during his post-loss presser.

Howard did give Michigan State credit for coming out of the halftime locker room the more aggressive and tougher team but the rest of his presser was just wild.

Being asked about one of the best atmospheres he’s coached in during his tenure and then turning it around to “I won here” is just an odd thing to do, especially since he hasn’t played college ball in three decades. You were asked about the environment which was top-notch on Saturday and you turned around to make it about your playing days without being asked about that, it comes off as defensive and just odd.

And then being asked about Marcus Bingham’s defense on Hunter Dickinson (which was great, by the way) and responding with “how many points did he score?” not realizing that very few of those buckets came against Michigan State’s star center is delusional. Dickinson did score 25, but nine came from the free throw line and he shot 8-for-19 from the floor. He only had a few buckets against Bingham who finished with four blocks — the rest was scored against Joey Hauser, Mady Sissoko, and Julius Marble.

Lastly, questions about a rematch seemed to also set him off as he fired back with “ask the Big Ten when we’ll play again” which isn’t exactly a good response to a fair question.

Overall, this was just one of those weird press conferences that he may look back on and ponder what he could have been thinking during these answers. But hey, when you get blown out by an in-state rival after landing the No. 1 recruiting class in the country and being ranked in the top 10 to start the season, you’re likely to be salty.