Dusty May on Pardon My Take: Discussing the MSU scuffle, Big Ten Tournament

The Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans are still going back and forth over the teams’ scuffle at the end of Sunday’s 79-62 MSU win in East Lansing. Both head coaches – MSU’s Tom Izzo and Michigan’s Dusty May – joined Barstool Sports podcast Pardon My Take this week to weigh in on their perspective of what went down.

Wednesday’s episode featured May’s side of the story, where he defended freshmen guards LJ Cason and Phat Phat Brooks for standing near midcourt during a free throw attempt before being shoved by MSU guard Tre Hollomon, citing protecting the home court and the Spartans’ senior day tradition of kissing the floor in their final home game.

“I assumed after the game we probably wouldn’t be on the logo for senior night, but as the game was going on, I didn’t know that that was uncharted territory, especially as we’re shooting a free throw,” May said on Pardon My Take. “And the previous free throw situation for that, we missed it, they grabbed it out, led it to the half court and Coen Carr was at the rim in about a second and a half. So we’re actually imploring our guys to stay alert in case we missed the free throw so we can be ready to defend.

“We didn’t realize that it was going to incite a wrestling maneuver. But now we know.”

The incident was the latest in a long line of bad blood moments between Michigan and Michigan State. May said that the officials had informed him of MSU’s tradition and to be on alert for it.

“I am  a fan of Joe Mazzulla with the Celtics, so I was very intrigued by his comment about how the players should fight a lot more,” May joked. “And I’m not sure I subscribe to that, but the thing of it is, there’s already a player that came out and the officials came over and said, ‘Hey, they have a tradition. They’re going to kiss the floor.’ I had probably seen that Mateen Cleaves had done it before… but I don’t watch a lot of Michigan State senior nights, so I didn’t know the exact protocol and procedures.

“And even now, I’m a little bit surprised that they do it during the game. Typically you take your seniors out, they get an ovation, they kiss the court and they move on or they hug their teammates, whatever the case. The officials told me this is gonna happen. I said, ‘great.’ And so I think it was Frankie Fidler who kissed the court, went out, took the applause, and then I forget, the next player came out and our players were standing in the exact same spot. It actually looked like they’re having a conversation, and by the way we played it, they probably weren’t talking about the next assignment. But they’re standing at half court chatting, and then just out of the blue, something angered Holloman, and obviously came in with the aggressive maneuver.

“Hopefully we’re not in this situation anymore, but next time we’ll clear the logo that covers about a third of the court and keep it rolling.”

Even with Sunday’s dust-up, Michigan feels the second half was something it can bottle heading into this week’s Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, where it has a double-bye and will not take the court until Friday. It hopes that it can reach the Big Ten Tournament final and have a shot at revenge against the Spartans.

“We were atrocious to begin the [Michigan State] game,” May said. “The first 10 minutes, they were playing at a different speed. They were they’re playing 2x on a podcast and we were at 0.5. The second half we competed at a high level. We look like us again. Even though we didn’t really make shots, we took care of the ball. We defended much better. We played with more aggression and physicality. So it gives us hope that we can find our stride this, this last week or so against some of the most talented teams in the league.

“We haven’t competed at the level we needed to or play as well as we could have. But now a new season starts and we’re excited for the Big Ten tournament. Hopefully, Sunday would be a great rematch.”

Michigan was in the hunt for a Big Ten regular season title as recently as last Thursday night, even amid its rough patch. Losing three-straight to end the year and four of six overall is not the direction they wanted to head, but May cited reasons for why it may have taken place.

 ”Well, in the Big Ten now, there are breaks that you receive or you’re on the wrong end of,” he said. “Our schedule, I think we played four games in the last 13 days against some of the best opponents. So where other teams had it earlier and obviously we have an advantage being in the Midwest, where we’re closer to most of the teams in the Big Ten, the West Coast schools have to travel more. There’s just a disadvantage and advantages of being in a league this big. By us securing the double bye, we have some time to practice and rest. We really haven’t had an opportunity to practice in a couple of weeks because of the quick turnarounds and the mandatory days offs and whatnot.

“We don’t have the depth that a lot of the other teams have. We’ve got a couple of reserves that have been injured and ill and haven’t played. And so we’ve been riding really six guys during this stretch. So it gives us a chance to kind of take a deep breath, find a way to get healthy, and then also practice for a couple of days and try to clean up a few things.”

May was also asked if it was time for Michigan fans to hit the panic button on the season, but the head coach was not quite ready to go there. Despite some of its deficiencies, he thinks Michigan has what it takes to get back to its winning ways.

 ”Give us two weeks,” May said. “These are the most important games coming up. And yeah, I wouldn’t hit it quite yet. We still have a group. We’ve got a heck of a front line that’s continuing to put up staggering numbers, even when they’re not playing their best. I believe that we’re going to make some shots.

“If you had said we’re going to shoot 30 percent over Big Ten play, I would have said, ‘man, we’re done early. We probably won’t make the Big Ten tournament.’ That’s what we ended up doing after being 20 games in. We were one of the top shooting teams in the country. Top 20 shooting team in the country from three and top three or four from two. And over the last 14 games or so, I think we’re around 355th or 360th. So there’s been a big drop off. One of the factors is that one of our best shooters [Sam Walters] hasn’t played in a while.

“I think we’re going to make some shots. I think we’re much closer than the scores indicate as of late.”