EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan might have won Friday night’s game against Michigan State, but the flames are burning as hot as ever between the two rivals on the other side of the weekend.

In his regularly scheduled Monday press conference, Michigan coach Dusty May leveled sharp criticisms against MSU point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who he said made a number of “plays that are very dangerous” during Michigan's 83-71 win. Meanwhile, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo fumed about plays May’s players made, as well as his rival coach’s decision to call timeout in the final minute of a game all but decided.

Needless to say, March 8’s rematch between these rivals at Crisler Center will be a heated one.

May, speaking in the morning at a Crisler Center podium, took issue with the wording of a question by a reporter, who brought up how it appeared that Fears tried to trip Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg after penetrating the paint and dishing a pass to teammate Jaxon Kohler.

"Appeared?” May interrupted. “I mean it wasn’t an illusion, right?”

May apologized for his interjection, but when answering the question got right down to his frustration with Fears’ play.

“I think there are several plays that are very dangerous,” May said. “And I am incredibly proud of our guys for the responses they had to some of those situations. Incredibly proud of their self control, their restraint and their impulse control. I'll leave it at that. But they're not isolated incidents.”

Look for yourself, the coach of the second-ranked Wolverines said.

“The film's there, 40 minutes of it. It's not hard to find.”

Fears, whose knack for baiting fouls is well known across the Big Ten, leads the 10th-ranked Spartans with 14.9 points per game and 8.8 assists (second in Division I). He takes 6.0 free throws per game, and he had 14 of them, knocking down 12, against Michigan on Friday. He frequently put himself in position to get to the line, like when he brake-checked Michigan center Aday Mara with 4:50 to play in the first half, or a sequence in the final two minutes of that half when he tangled up and fell with Michigan guard L.J. Cason.

With 47.6 seconds left in the first half, Fears ran down Lendeborg to knock the ball loose on a break and shoved him hard, resulting in a flagrant 1 foul.

A couple of hours away in snowy East Lansing, Izzo took the podium at Breslin Center. In his opening statement, he said how disappointing it always is to lose a big game, pointed to some stretches his Spartans struggled and then shifted gears to Wednesday’s game at Minnesota.

Asked about May’s criticisms, which had already made the rounds on social media, Izzo had his own view.

“I have no idea, but I do know that there were a couple plays the other way too,” Izzo said. “Like jumping into a guy and getting a foul when it was a complete joke.”

The play Izzo alluded to multiple times was a foul drawn by Michigan fifth-year senior Will Tschetter, who leaned into defender Jordan Scott to play and got the call.

“I don't care what Dusty says. I don't care what they say. I don't care,” Izzo said. “There were some things Jeremy did (that) I addressed, but him and their point guard (Elliot Cadeau) were going at it pretty good. That's what happens in games like this. So if anybody did anything dirty, tell him to call me and I would be more than happy to address it. If it was physical play, that's the way that game's always going to be.”

The perceived scouring for post-rivalry game drama doesn’t sit so well with Izzo. With both teams contending for a Big Ten title, the Wolverines tied with Illinois for first at 10-1 in conference and Michigan State tied with Nebraska for third at 9-2.

“They're 20-1 or whatever they are, and we're 19-3 or whatever we are,” Izzo said. “There should be a lot bigger things to get into than worrying about the got-darn handshake. So sorry, but you guys gotta have something that's controversial. So let's see. What could I make controversial? I'm surprised nobody brought up the timeout.”

That timeout, with 31.5 seconds remaining in the game, came right after Izzo took a technical foul yelling at officials for a foul called on Fears for holding a hand up to put Lendeborg out of bounds on an inbound pass. Lendeborg hit four free throws to go up 14, and May called timeout — the game all but decided — to gather his team. Izzo looked on, clearly miffed, from his sideline.

After the game, May said he told his team “that we need to keep our composure, that we're going to play again and not to get caught up in any riff-raff.” A year ago at Breslin Center, Cason and since-transferred teammate Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks stood on the Spartan logo as MSU seniors attempted to kiss it as is tradition for their final home game. MSU guard Tre Holloman (since transferred) came up and shoved them out of the way, which caused a fracas at center court.

Told about May’s timeout explanation, Izzo didn’t look too enthused.

“That's good,” Izzo commented. “That's a good explanation.”

After that timeout spectacle, Izzo blew through the handshake line with a quickness. Though he did shake May’s hand, the scene earned some virality. Asked about the handshake, Izzo balked.

“It was a handshake,” Izzo said. “It was probably no different than the one last year.”

He had more to say. He insisted he isn’t testy after the rivalry loss — though afterward he did question the sanity of a sportswriters who asked him specifics about lineup changes and then suggested anyone who thinks they can coach his team together to go right ahead.

Izzo insists his team is moving on, and yet there’s a sting to Friday’s result that doesn’t appear to be going away. Leave it to what happened on the court.

“Remember this, whether I hug and kiss Dusty or he hugs and kisses me, OK, we got beat by a better team,” Izzo said. “They played better. They were better. They have been better. We got beat by a better team.”

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