Rivalry matchups are part of what makes college basketball so great and the Big Ten regularly plays host to some of the top rivalries in the sport.
Michigan’s matchup at Michigan State had just about everything
you can ask for. The stakes were clear going in, the Wolverines and Spartans sat atop the league standings with two of the best defenses in the country with the winner earning bragging rights and a leg up in the conference title race.
The two battled early on before Michigan took a dominant 40-24 lead into the locker room at halftime. It being a Tom Izzo team playing at home, Michigan State came out swinging in the second. The Spartans clawed all the way back into the game, even taking the lead for the first time with just over seven minutes to play. The Wolverines proved too much down the stretch, storming back to retake the lead and the game itself in the closing minutes.
It was a physical game. This is the Big Ten after all and it’s a rivalry on top of that. There were a handful of plays that took that physicality a bit further, like when Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. seemed to extend his right leg and trip Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg.
May was asked about that play this week and delivered a response.
“I think there were several plays that are very dangerous,” May said. “I am incredibly proud of our guys, the responses they had to some of those situations.”
Izzo was asked about May’s quotes during his own press conference later and provided a response.
“I thought there were a couple plays the other way too like jumping into a guy and getting a foul,” Izzo said. “There were some things Jeremy did, I addressed on him. Him and their point guard were going at it pretty good, that’s what happens in games like this. If anybody did anything dirty tell him to call me. I would be more than happy to address it.”
The rivalry renews at the end of the regular season when Michigan State travels to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan on Sunday, March 8.
