The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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70 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MARCH 2026 M ichigan State point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. is known for his flopping and subtle cheap plays, but took it to another level as his frustrations grew throughout an 83-71 loss to Michigan on his own home floor Jan. 30. The most egregious ex- ample was when he drove the ball, kicked it to the corner and tripped graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg as the Wolverine was attempt- ing to close out on Jaxon Kohler's three-point shot in the corner. That led to a somewhat comi- cal but also necessary exchange in head coach Dusty May's press conference the following Monday. We asked if the Big Ten needed to look into a play where Fears "ap- peared" to trip Lendeborg. "Appeared?" May replied. "It wasn't an illusion." Clearly, May was not happy with not only that but other instances that he called "dangerous" from the game. How- ever, he hadn't heard from the losing coach, MSU's Tom Izzo, for an apology or any sort of explanation. "I am incredibly proud of our guys for the responses they had to some of those situations," May continued. "Incredibly proud of their self-control, their restraint and their impulse control. I'll leave it at that. "The film is there. Forty minutes of it. It's not hard to find." In a press conference later in the day, Izzo scrambled and actually tried to flip the narrative, but he contradicted himself in the process. "I'm not going to get into that," Izzo said. "I have no idea, but I do know that I thought there were a couple plays the other way, too, like jumping into a guy and getting a foul when it was a complete joke. "... I don't care what Dusty says, I don't care what they say. There were some things Jeremy did I addressed on him. But him and their point guard were going at it pretty good. That's what happens in games like this. So, if anybody did any- thing dirty, tell him to call me, and I would be more than happy to address it. If it was physical play, that's the way that game's always going to be." Tell HIM to call YOU? Because your player tripped his? This is all backwards, but again, Izzo was scrambling — vis- ibly defeated and frustrated both after the game and during his press confer- ence days later. He puts a great deal of emphasis on beating Michigan but was outclassed in a beatdown at the Breslin Center. The Wolverines now stand atop the Big Ten standings, while MSU has two conference losses. And the confusion about what May could be referring to? That's a rough look for Izzo, too, since Fears' conduct — and there were multiple examples — was ob- vious. And Izzo knows it, obviously. If he didn't, he wouldn't have had to address anything with Fears, whom Sports Illus- trated's Kevin Sweeney compared to for- mer Duke guard Grayson Allen because he was suspended during his college days for tripping opponents. DEJECTED AND DEFLECTING Later in his press conference, Izzo was asked about his blow-by handshake with May, who's also regarded as one of the top coaches in the game. That, too, he denied. "Some guys, I talk to," Izzo said. "I have no interest in talking to my rival. Some guys, I don't. It was not a ... it was a handshake. I walked by. It was a handshake. It was probably no different than the one last year, if you really got right down to it." And then came the deflection. Izzo, who seemingly didn't see May's postgame explanation for calling a timeout late in the game with a big lead — which included him saying he reminded his play- ers not to get caught up in any ex- tracurriculars in the final stages — asked why the East Lansing media contingent didn't make that into a controversy. "Jeez, they're 20-1 or whatever they are. We're 19-3 or whatever we are," Izzo said. "There should be a lot of things to get into than to be worried about the God darn handshake. So, sorry. But you guys got to have some- thing that's controversial, so let's see. What could I make controversial? I'm surprised nobody brought up the time- out." After Izzo attempted to create a con- troversy after criticizing the media for trying to create controversy, the reporter came back with a paraphrased version of May's answer from after the game. That left Izzo, once again, scrambling. "Oh, well, that's good," Izzo said, sur- prised. "That's a good explanation." That was. But it's hard to say the same about the rhetoric that came out of East Lansing. In the end, pulling out an epic win over Michigan State was all the Wolverines needed for their season at that stage. But doing so and not backing down before the game — when an unfazed May sat in front of the "Izzone" MSU student section and took their vitriol — and afterward makes it even sweeter. ❏ SAYFIE BLITZ ❱ CLAYTON SAYFIE Spartans Are Scrambling Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo (right) said his Jan. 30 post- game handshake with U-M's Dusty May was "probably no different than the one last year (above)," amid his scrambled remarks about MSU tripping incidents in this year's game. One big difference was this year's result, with Michigan posting an 83-71 victory over the Spartans in East Lansing. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Staff writer Clayton Sayfie has covered Michigan athletics for The Wolverine since 2019. Contact him at Clayton.Sayfie @on3.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @CSayf23.