Tre Holloman reveals message from Mateen Cleaves, Cassius Winston on Michigan State-Michigan altercation

Michigan State’s Tre Holloman got into it toward the end of today’s game for trying to help his team to honor a Spartan tradition as part of Senior Day. For that, several alumni have already come to his defense postgame.

Holloman had an incident with Michigan’s LJ Cason and Phat Phat Brooks as the two were standing on the logo when the seniors were going to go and kiss it at mid-court before walking off for the final time in the Breslin Center. Because of that, he earned even more respect from some of the program’s former players like Mateen Cleaves and Cassius Winston.

Tre Holloman says he has already heard from Spartan point guards Mateen Cleaves and Cassius Winston thanking him for defending Michigan State's senior day tradition of kissing the Spartan head. Holloman asked Michigan players to leave the Spartan head before the dust up.

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“Uh, yeah, man. Uh, you know, the former, former players are, like, uh, texting me, talking about don’t let, don’t let nobody disrespect our, our tradition. So I was just trying to, trying to defend them too so,” Holloman said postgame. “After…The guys that were here – Mateen, (Cassius). Just those guys, you know.”

With 37 seconds left during free throws, Cason and Brooks, a pair of freshmen for the Wolverines, remained on the mid-court logo as the seniors for the Spartans went to kiss it before subbing out. They remained there while Frankie Fidler did so, despite Jaden Akins asking them to move, before Holloman involved himself as Szymon Zapala headed over.

After the game, Tom Izzo also defended Holloman – while also wanting the junior guard to keep himself out of trouble with the postseason ahead. As for the maize & blue, Dusty May didn’t agree with that or how or why it was handled.

Following the fight, Michigan State went on to win at 79-62 over Michigan to finish at 26-5 (17-3) overall as the regular-season champions in the Big Ten. Holloman was their leading scorer this afternoon with 20 points off the bench along with 18 points from Jase Richardson while those seniors combined for 17 from Akins (11), Fidler (4), and Zapala (2).

This has been something the Spartans have done for thirty years now. That’s why Holloman took exception to it like he did against the rival and why the other alumni appreciated him all the more for it.

Izzo defends Tre Holloman altercation, tempers flaring late

Tom Izzo has been a part of the rivalry between Michigan State and Michigan for more than four decades. He has seen his fair share of in-game incidents over that span and, given that, Izzo had no issue with Tre Holloman sparking a brief shoving match at mid-court late in the 79-62 win over the Wolverines in today’s regular-season finale.

Tom Izzo's thoughts on the altercation toward the end of the game and how special the kissing the court tradition has become to the Spartan community pic.twitter.com/suPLh4Ewu7

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“That’s what rivalries are all about. If everybody’s out there hugging and kissing, it’s probably not a rivalry,” Izzo said in his postgame press conference. “They shouldn’t get mad if we’re kissing our own ass or doing something down there (at Michigan). I don’t get mad when they call me an angry midget, it doesn’t bother me.”