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With 64 seconds left and no hope of pushing a lost season beyond that, Juwan Howard signaled for a timeout. As Michigan’s managers started setting up chairs for a huddle, the head coach sent his end-of-bench players to the scorer’s table. Howard then took his seat and drew up instructions. There was ample time left in the break as the school’s band struck up “The Victors” and Howard looked to his left.

He stared down … something. His mouth didn’t appear to move.

Not much left to say, anyway.

A colossal failure of a Michigan men’s basketball season ended with a 66-57 loss to Penn State on the opening night of the Big Ten tournament. And that includes the backups outscoring the Nittany Lions’ deep reserves 6-0 in the last minute. And Penn State going the last 5:50 without a single bucket, yet winning comfortably anyway. It’s all not very good. So does Howard get another chance after an eight-win campaign plagued by injuries and controversies?

Does Michigan start to ask hard questions about the culture established by one of its beloved alums?

Howard may not know, since he said he hasn’t spoken to school administrators about the future just yet.

“We just played a game,” Howard said Wednesday night. “There are a lot of emotions right now at this moment for players and coaches. Did not want to lose this game tonight. We’ll go back home. We always sit down and meet, me and players, and then I’m sure the athletic department will want to sit down and talk. Looking forward to having those types of conversations.”

Howard said his health is improving daily after undergoing heart surgery last Sept. 15. “Just two weeks ago,” Howard said, “I started turning the corner.” But he made it clear he wants to and plans to return for 2024-25.

“There are going to be a lot of decisions made,” Howard said, replying to a question about whether he feels confident he has the plan to move the program forward. “We will regroup tomorrow and we will sit down and talk as a staff, on our needs, our wants, and at the same time I trust we will do a great job executing that plan.”

Michigan’s players insisted what happened on the floor isn’t indicative of the vibe inside the program.

“Y’all probably didn’t see that on the court, but we were a family off the court,” Michigan wing Terrance Williams II said. “We were all in. We had accountability each day in practice. Y’all don’t see it, but behind closed doors, our culture is good.”

Said guard Nimari Burnett: “The culture is to come in every day and put in maximum effort, doing it as a team, as a group. It’s really family oriented. Even though the season didn’t go the way we wanted it too, we all were bought in. It sucks, but this group has been connected…It sucks that we all went through it together.”