Tre Holloman took offense to L.J. Cason and Phat Phat Brooks being too close to MSU seniors during their tradition of kissing the Spartan logo, resulting in some pushing and shoving. Tom Izzo and Dusty May both addressed the situation in their postgame press conferences:
As the 2024-25 regular season was coming to a close, the Michigan State Spartans started their annual tradition of having their seniors kiss the center court Spartan logo in the closing minutes of their final home game. But the tradition didn’t come without a skirmish, as Michigan’s L.J. Cason and Durral Brooks were standing at mid-court preparing for play to resume and free throws to be shot.
MSU senior Tre Holloman took offense to that. Words were exchanged, there was some shoving, and both Cason and Holloman were issued technical fouls at the end of the game.
Can’t stop a SPARTAN TRADITION. #V4MSU pic.twitter.com/1tUFsDwSb1
— Rico Beard (@RicoBeard) March 9, 2025
Boos are raining down late here after some words were exchanged between Michigan and Michigan State. “Little sister” chants are raining down. Holloway and Cason got techs
Great job by Tschetter to get his guys away from the scrum. pic.twitter.com/IoivFLV47u
— Kellen Voss (@Kellen__Voss) March 9, 2025
When asked about the incident, Michigan head coach Dusty May said he didn’t know about the tradition and defended his players. Video of his full answer for context is below, courtesy of Tony Garcia of The Detroit Free Press.
“No problem with that,” May said on the tradition itself, initially confused that there was a tradition in the first place. “It took a while but we’re fine with that. They’ve earned the right for that, the seniors who poured there hearts out. As far as whatever happened, are we not allowed to stand at half-court while they’re shooting a free throw?”
“No, you are,” Clayton Sayfie with The Wolverine responded.
“Oh you are, okay,” May said, in tongue-and-cheek fashion. “They earned the right to rub our noses in it. We have to play better, we have to get tougher and we move on and we got to compete for another championship this week.”
Dusty May discusses the late skirmish. Said players are allowed to stand at half court, but also MSU earned the right to “rub our noses in it.” pic.twitter.com/5XBrm7XpNt
— Tony Garcia | Detroit Free Press (@RealTonyGarcia) March 9, 2025
After celebrating the Big Ten regular season title with his team, Tom Izzo spoke on the skirmish as well.
“If it happened the way I heard, I’m still not going to let Tre get away with it, but I’m not going to be as quite as mad at him as I would have been,” Izzo said. “But at the same time, we have to make sure we handle ourselves better than anyone else. Wasn’t the end of the world. That’s what rivalries are all about. If everyone is out there hugging and kissing, than it’s probably not a rivalry.”
Expanding on the tradition, it’s clear Izzo takes a lot of pride in it, saying that MSU hockey and other sports have now adopted it. He downplayed in the incident for the most part, saying that it shouldn’t be the focus of that win.
“You can’t talk bad about my mother, and you can’t do certain things to the court (we) practice on everyday,” Izzo said.
Izzo’s advice for Michigan amidst the skid
Michigan State won its last seven games of the regular season and clinched the Big Ten championship. This was all capped off by a 79-62 victory over Michigan on Sunday, a win where the Spartans led for all but 46 seconds of play.
The struggles Michigan is experiencing are nothing new for Michigan State, who have stumbled into March Madness in the past before putting things together at the perfect time. Izzo spoke to the media about Michigan’s struggles, with the Wolverines having lost three games in a row at the worst possible time.
“He’s already taken his team to a Final Four, he knows what he’s doing,” Izzo said. “I would say this — in this league, this is one of the problems right now — there’s so many good teams … they won a lot of close games in that stretch. I haven’t talked to him about it, but sometimes when you do that, you think that’s going to continue.
“You don’t know with the depth if they’re wearing down a bit, they’ve had a couple of injuries. But he knows his team better than I know his team and he’s not a rookie coach, he’s a rookie Big Ten coach, there’s a big difference. I think honestly, and I told him this, I think he’s done a phenomenal job. It’s not easy to do what he’s done and taking that (Vlad) Goldin guy with him was a smart move, that guy is pretty good.”
To paraphrase May, and to quote the great Ted Lasso, it’s important to have “the mind of a goldfish” after a loss like this and flush out the result.
“We’re going to attack this with some humility and figure out how we can make a big jump this week before (the Big Ten Tournament in) Indianapolis,” May said.