ANN ARBOR, Mich.– If Jeremy Fears Jr. and Tom Izzo disagreed with Dusty May’s assessment of his alleged “dangerous” plays the last time Michigan State and Michigan faced off, then the Spartans' point guard sure hurt his own argument Sunday at Crisler Center.

Just 5:16 into the game between the third-ranked Wolverines and eighth-ranked Spartans, Fears was fouled by UM point guard Elliot Cadeau and kicked his right leg backward, right into the groin of Cadeau. The extracurricular play earned a technical foul upon review, as well as the scorn of a Crisler Center crowd that chanted expletives toward him.

During a timeout in the first half, Izzo was asked about Fears' kick on Cadeau and technical.

"You know what? It’s all cause of what happened earlier and now every microscope is on him and I don’t like that, OK?" Izzo said. "But I told him I don’t even want him breathing wrong. But the fouls is what’s killing us – the fouls on the offensive boards – and other than that I think we’re playing pretty good."

Given a second half, and a losing effort, to think it over, Izzo doubled down in Fears' defense in his postgame press conference.

“I don't think he did anything on purpose,” Izzo said when asked by The Detroit News. “I think it was a reaction. I don't know the whole deal about it. It was a critical play, as they all are, but I thought Jeremy Fears played his ass off 99% of that game.”

Izzo said he chewed Fears out for the play, but when he watched back the film he saw Cadeau pushing Fears in the back, which is what earned the original foul call. In Fears' mind, he just can't make that play.

"I got fouled. I should have probably just fell, you know," Fears said. "It's an unfortunate situation, you know, it's hurting the team. Just can't have it."

Izzo said he sees a spark of unfairness in the discourse when he believes Michigan players made their own dirty plays. He turned that toward his counterpart in Ann Arbor, who evened up their head-to-head series with UM’s first sweep of MSU since 2014.

Michigan also received two technical fouls in the first half. Aday Mara shoved Carson Cooper under the basket with 13:23 remaining, and Trey McKenney swiped at a ball after a bucket for another at 10:44. Cooper picked up his own technical with 1:11 to go in the second half on an intentional foul. Mara also took a flagrant 1 foul with 15:39 to play in the game after he caught Fears near the neck after the point guard picked his pocket for a steal. That left him minding three fouls the rest of the way.

“I'm sick of it being one-sided, though,” Izzo said. “That's what upset me about the first time. So Fears will get his lunch from me. I wonder if some of their guys will get their lunch from what happened in the first game, that didn’t get public. But I don’t condone anything. I don’t think he tried to kick him on purpose. If you watch it, it was like he didn't even know he did it. And then he (the official) probably said, ‘Oh, that’s Fears. Let's go.’”

There’s a lot of pressure on Fears’ shoulders to lead Michigan State. This adds another wrinkle, as do the expletive-filled chants of Michigan’s student section.

“And you know what," Izzo continued. "Fears has done a hell of a job since getting publicly reprimanded by everybody, and he's done a hell of a job. And nobody's tougher on him than me. Nobody will be tougher on him than me, and I was proud of the way he played, and maybe not proud of that one incident.”

Fears said he doesn't care so much about hearing those explicit chants, which happened multiple times after his technical. He's used to it.

"Not one of those people can be out here playing and do what we do," Fears said. "So at the same time, it's just all talk."

Fears, a redshirt sophomore who leads the Spartans with 15.3 points per game and leads Division I with 9.1 assists per game, has taken criticism the back half of this season for what some view as “dirty” plays. May called out those “dangerous” plays Feb. 1, three days after the teams met at Breslin Center in an 83-71 Michigan win. The next game, Fears kicked Minnesota guard Langston Reynolds between the legs in similar fashion to Sunday’s incident, after which his coach openly pondered benching him.

Izzo never did. He met with Fears and had a heart-to-heart that he says drew the two closer together, and Fears told The Detroit News that the incident’s aftermath made him a better player.

“I think it helped me, actually, in some way,” Fears said. “Being a leader, understanding how valuable every play and every moment with the guys is, and overall, I feel like my game has kind of went up a notch.”

May, briefly alluding to his previous comments that drew scorn in East Lansing, gave his own praises of Fears' play.

"A lot was made of Jeremy Fears," May said. "Jeremy Fears Jr. is a heck of a basketball player. He's a winner, he's an elite thinker, he's elite processor. He's an All-American quarterback on the court for those guys. And so it's great to compete against the best. He's made us better as well."

Michigan eventually prevailed, 90-80. The Wolverines (29-2, 19-1 Big Ten) will go to the Big Ten tournament as the No. 1 seed. Michigan State is 25-6 and 15-5, entering the Big Ten tournament as the No. 3 seed.

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