Michigan State and Michigan basketball players got into a scuffle late in the Spartans’ 79-62 win on Sunday in East Lansing, with the incident stemming from MSU’s senior day tradition of having the outgoing seniors kiss the midcourt logo when they check out of the game.
With 37 seconds remaining, MSU forward Frankie Fidler came out of the game and kissed the Spartan logo, as Michigan guards L.J. Cason and Phat Phat Brooks stood nearby at center court.
Tre Holloman, upset the Michigan players were covering the logo, then walked over to them, confronted them and shoved Cason. Players ran toward the fracas as officials and coaches stopped it from becoming something more, and coaches kept players from leaving the benches.
Holloman, who had a team-high 20 points, continued to yell at Michigan’s bench as he was directed back to MSU’s bench.
There appeared to be an altercation between Michigan and Michigan State in the closing moments. pic.twitter.com/P9MsbOQSwL
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 9, 2025
MSU coach Tom Izzo and Michigan coach Dusty May gathered with officials and put arms around each other to discuss the incident. The rest of MSU’s senior day floor-kissing ceremony, a tradition dating back to 1995, went on without disruption.
During MSU’s Big Ten championship ceremony after the game, Izzo alluded to an incident in the early 1990s when members of Michigan’s Fab Five pretended to deface MSU’s midcourt logo, something he often brings up more than 30 years later, calling it a “little happening here.”
“We have a freaking tradition here. Nobody is changing our tradition,” Izzo told the Breslin Center crowd Sunday, before calling Holloman over and telling him, “I don’t want you doing that very often, but this one time, kiss that frickin’ S.”
(The logo, now a Spartan helmet, used to be an “S,” and Holloman is a junior).
— Rico Beard (@RicoBeard) March 9, 2025
Holloman later explained his thoughts on the situation.
“They’re going to let them kiss the floor, whether they move or I gotta move them,” he told WILX after the game.
“I gotta do it for the past players.”
On the Michigan side, it was the first game at MSU for May and several Michigan players. May said he was unaware of the tradition, but also appeared to feel it was all a bit much.
“I didn’t know there was a tradition when they’re shooting a free throw and we have guys standing at halfcourt that we can’t stand at halfcourt as the game’s going on,” May said. “I’m not familiar with that one. Is that a tradition?”
After being informed of MSU’s specific senior day tradition, May said, “Oh yeah, no problem with that. Obviously it took longer than a (normal) timeout, but we’re fine with that. They’ve earned the right for that. The seniors poured their hearts out.
“As far as whatever happened, are we not allowed to stand at halfcourt when shooting a free throw? Oh, you are. They earned the right to rub our noses in it. It is what it is. We have to play better. We have to get tougher. So we move on.”
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
It’s not the first kerfuffle between the Spartans and Wolverines in recent memory. A physical altercation involving football players took place in the Michigan Stadium tunnel after the 2022 game, resulting in misdemeanor charges against several MSU football players. Michigan altered its tunnel after that. There was another on-field altercation between players following the 2024 football game, but nothing serious came of it. Both football games were Michigan wins.
Michigan to expand tunnels after safety review
It’s also not the first recent center logo incident with the Wolverines. Police broke up an on-field skirmish between Michigan and Ohio State players this past fall when Michigan players attempted to plant a flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium following the Wolverines’ win. That resulted in Ohio State defender Jack Sawyer grabbing the flag and throwing it.
Public records recently obtained by The Athletic showed that police reviews of the football incident justified the use of pepper spray in that situation.
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(Photo: Rey Del Rio / Getty Images)
