Michigan's Dusty May pushes back on criticism for late game altercation with Spartans

Sunday's matchup between Michigan and Michigan State to close out the regular season ended with the Wolverines suffering a 17-point loss to the Spartans. And as is often the case when these two schools clash on the court or the field, things got heated.

With 37.2 seconds left in the game, Michigan State attempted to carry out its tradition on Senior Day by having various Spartans exit the game and kiss the logo at mid-court on their way to the bench. The only problem is that two Wolverines were standing at mid-court while this was occurring, and Spartan guard Tre Holloman wasn't happy about it.

After reportedly asking Michigan's L.J. Cason and Phat Phat Brooks to move off the logo without success, Holloman decided he was going to physically move them.

Following the game, Michigan head coach Dusty May said he wasn't familiar with Michigan State's tradition and pushed back on the idea that his players couldn't stand at halfcourt during a free throw. On Monday, May doubled down on his pushback of the criticism directed at his team.

Here's what he had to say:

"Do I know the customs and traditions of any other Big Ten school? No, I don't and won't know until I experience it. I don't watch Michigan State documentaries. I don't have a Sparty foam finger growing up, so I have no idea what they do. I know this, that the officials walked over and said that they have a tradition on senior night where their players kiss the logo as they're coming out of the floor. It's going to take some time. Great, that's awesome. Phat and LJ are standing at the exact spot they were when Fidler kissed the floor, not doing anything other than just standing there, and then out of the blue, they're still standing at half court, and the Michigan State player comes up and two-hand shoves them in the chest."

"Now, the Spartan logo is about a third of the court. The game is going on. I didn't know that this happened during the game, and so if we needed to back up to the other end or put all of our guys on an offensive, I don't know what we were supposed to do in that situation. I know that we had two freshmen standing at half court, and they're respectful, great dudes, and obviously, like I said, this was not the first person that came out, kissed the floor. We'd already agreed to the officials and whatnot, and so, yeah, that's my perspective on it."

"I'm very proud that our guys didn't retaliate in a different manner that could cost them playing in the Big Ten Tournament. To have that self-restraint and self-discipline and realizing that they're representing Michigan the way they do. So I was very proud of that moment because that could have gotten really, really ugly. Next year, I would say the guys move back five feet. ... As far as knowing the positioning we're supposed to stand and things like that during Michigan State Senior Day, I wasn't aware. But once again, I don't think it was a big deal, either. Like I said, I was just proud of our guys to show the restraint that they did and not make it an issue that could cost them playing the Big Ten Tournament."

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