Michigan Basketball: Injury updates for Jett Howard and Terrance Willams

Michigan basketball will travel to Rutgers on Thursday, yet the Wolverines could be without Jett Howard and Terrance Williams. Here’s the latest. 

There’s a huge game awaiting Michigan basketball on Thursday night. The Wolverines will head to Rutgers for another huge opportunity to boost their NCAA tournament resume.

Michigan is 15-12 overall and 9-7 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines aren’t projected to make the field of 68 right now but with four potential NCAA tournament teams on the schedule, Michigan basketball does control its own destiny.

If the Wolverines win three of four games to close the regular season and win one or two in the Big Ten tournament, they should make it. I don’t see them getting to 19 or 20 wins and not making the field.

A road win over Rutgers would really boost the resume and it looks like Caleb McConnell, one of Rutgers’ top two-way players will miss the game Thursday. But what about Michigan basketball standout Jett Howard or fellow starter Terrance Williams?

Phil Martelli met with the media on Wednesday and offered updates on both.

Jett Howard and Terrance Williams injury updates

I love whenever Phil Martelli meets the media. He offered a bunch of insights on the Wolverines and how their focus right now is going “1-0.”

It’s something he repeated and I love that for this Michigan basketball team. The Wolverines have all the talent they need to be a Sweet-16 team. They just need to put it together and the win over Michigan State was a huge step forward, especially and hopefully with Dug McDaniel.

At any rate, it would help if Michigan was full strength Thursday night and Martelli said that Howard would travel and not just in sweats. Here’s his quote via UMHoops.com:

"“His body language is much brighter than other times he’s been injured, but still nothing where you would say he’s full go or anything like that,” Martelli said. “… He’s making the trip with uniform, not with sweat suit.”"

That sounds pretty positive to me. It’s not a guarantee that he’s going to play but Martelli’s comments give me hope. He also said that Williams took part in practice earlier this week.

That’s another solid development for Michigan basketball. The Wolverines could use the shooting of Williams and his rebounding. Will Tschetter and Tarris Reed have both shown they deserve more minutes too, but each has their own weaknesses.

At any rate, more depth is better and of course, having Jett Howard, one of the best shooters in the country, would be a good thing heading into a difficult environment at the RAC.