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Juwan Howard didn’t have to be told what the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry was all about when he accepted the Wolverines’ head coaching position back in May.
He was recruited by these schools as a high-schooler. He played in this rivalry game. He knew what it was about well before he had an office inside the Crisler Center.
“It’s a very competitive rivalry,” Howard said. “It’s a competitive rivalry in football. It’s a competitive rivalry in basketball. It’s in-state. We’ve got two schools that are only, what, an hour from one another? Depending on how you drive?
“Some of these kids are from the state of Michigan on our roster. You have some kids from the state of Michigan on their roster. They’ve known each other since they were little kids, playing in AAU and high school. Truly, they are both competitive.
Competitive was his chosen word in describing the annual matchups between the Wolverines and Spartans, choosing instead to describe it that way when he was asked whether his level of “hate” towards MSU had diminished at all since his days as a player.
“Have you ever heard me use the word hate?,” Howard asked. “As a player, did I ever use the word hate? I think we should use a different word.”
Unfortunately for Howard, the Wolverines had a hard time staying competitive on the floor with the Spartans in this rendition of the rivalry. Michigan went toe-to-toe with the Spartans for much of the first half, but Michigan State pulled away for a ten-point lead as the teams headed for the locker room.
In the second half, the Spartans’ lead ballooned to 16 before Michigan cut their deficit to single digits on a couple occasions. Still, Michigan State felt in control throughout the contest, and the final score, 87-69, reflected that fact.
“Each and every game, we’re trying to compete,” Howard said. “Our goal was to come in here and win. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the job done.
“We’re going to have to just keep forging ahead, mentally stable and keep working, which we will. Second half, there were some possessions where we attacked the basket, we didn’t finish, the ball did not go in. We can’t make [that] a compound mistake, we’ve got to sprint back in transition and prevent a layup from happening or a shot from three.”
This rivalry has been highly competitive for much of the last decade. Tom Izzo noted on Sunday that each program has had stretches where they’ve won multiple games in a row against their rival. Right now, the Spartans have won four straight, and this one was the least competitive of those four matchups.
Howard acknowledged his team has to focus on the Big Ten games directly ahead of them, but the next matchup with Michigan State is already on his mind as well.
“In this game, you just have two heavyweights going at one another,” Howard said. “Unfortunately, someone has to lose and for us it just happened. But, we get the chance to play them again in our building. We’re looking forward to it whenever that time comes, but we’re just taking it one game at a time.”[jwplayer nzzI9rE9]