Watch: Michigan Coach Juwan Howard Punches Wisconsin Coach After Loss

Michigan men's basketball coach Juwan Howard was caught on video throwing a punch at a Wisconsin assistant coach Sunday afternoon after the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Wolverines.

As the CBS camera showed Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard shaking hands with Michigan players after the game, Gard and Howard met on the sideline. It looks like Howard pulled his mask away to say something while dodging a handshake. Gard stepped in front of Howard, and the two coaches began apparently exchanging words. Howard pointed a finger during the argument, but it's unclear if it was at Gard or the scoreboard.

Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft and one Michigan player look like they are trying to intervene and break apart the two head coaches. A bigger crowd of players and coaches enveloped and Howard comes at Krabbenhoft with a right-handed punch.

The coaches were quickly pulled apart towards their benches, but the players let the emotions roll on, and a mini brawl broke out on the sideline.

Here's the video footage of what happened Sunday afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin.

Wisconsin won the game, 77-63, but Gard said Howard was most likely upset over a timeout by Wisconsin with 15 seconds remaining to reset the 10-second clock to get the ball past mid-court.

"Apparently he didn't like that I called the timeout to reset the 10-second call. Because we only had four seconds to get the ball over halfcourt," Gard said during an interview with CBS after the incident. "I didn't want to put my backups—I had all my bench guys in the game—I didn't want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds. So I took a timeout and got us a new 10 seconds and it helped them get organized and get the ball in. And he did not like that when he came through the handshake line. I'll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest."

Howard said he thought someone had put their hands on him, which led to the melee.

"Someone touched me, and I think it was very uncalled for, for them to touch me, as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another. That's what escalated it," said Howard, who admitted he didn't like the late timeout. "I didn't like the timeout they called, and I'm being totally honest with you," he said. "I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially with it being a large lead. I thought that wasn't fair to our guys. And so that's what happened."

The Big Ten Conference issued a statement Sunday, not long after the altercation, saying it would take "swift and appropriate disciplinary action."

"The Big Ten Conference is aware of a physical altercation involving Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard at the conclusion of the Michigan Wolverines and Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball game," the Big Ten stated. "The conference is in contact with both member institutions and is currently assessing the incident. The conference will provide more information and will take swift and appropriate disciplinary action when it completes its review."

Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel reached out to his Wisconsin counterpart to apologize for Howard's actions.

"I am aware of and watched the end of our men's basketball game," Manuel said in a statement. "There is no excuse for any of our staff or student-athletes to get into a physical altercation with others regardless of instigating factors. I reached out and apologized to [Wisconsin AD] Chris McIntosh and [Michigan] President Coleman has reached out to UW Chancellor Blank to apologize for the totally unacceptable behavior. We will review the situation more thoroughly and work with the Big Ten Conference as they determine their disciplinary actions and will determine if further disciplinary actions are warranted."

Sunday's altercation comes as the 15th-ranked Badgers improved to 12-4 in Big Ten play and into a three-way tie for first place with Purdue and Illinois. Michigan fell to 8-7 in league play and 14-11 overall, which puts them in jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament that starts next month.

Howard is best remembered for being one of the Michigan "Fab Five" freshmen from the 1991-92 season, in which five freshmen started and took the Wolverines all the way to a national runner-up finish. They made it back to the championship in the 1992-93 season as sophomores, but they lost again.

Howard played for eight different teams in the NBA, and was the only "Fab Five" member to win an NBA title, which he did with the Miami Heat in 2012.

Howard became the Michigan head coach on May 22, 2019.