Michigan State swept its in-state rivals with a 90-80 victory over Michigan State on Sunday. But it hasn’t been without pain for Michigan point guard Elliott Cardo.
With 14:24 left in the first half, Caddo tried to poke the ball away from Michigan State player Jeremy Fears from behind. Fiers responded by kicking Caddo backwards in the groin.
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When the whistle sounded, Fiers raised his hands to show that he had done nothing wrong. But he did it.
Replays clearly showed that Fiers’ right leg made contact with Caddo’s groin, an action that was not at all natural for the game. Cardow doubled over in pain as officials later discussed the call.
After watching a replay of the incident, officials concluded that Fiers’ actions resulted in a technical foul for contact with the dead ball. Michigan received two technical free throws and possession of the ball.
we’ve seen this before
If this all looks familiar to you, that’s probably because it is. Fear has done this before.
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Here are the concerns during the Feb. 4 game between Minnesota and Michigan State. With Minnesota’s Langston Reynolds guarding him from behind, Fiers did almost the same thing he did Sunday. He lifted his right leg directly to Reynolds’ groin.
Like Sunday, officials reviewed the play and assessed a technical foul on Fiers.
In the previous game — when Michigan State again faced Michigan — Fiers was involved in multiple plays that Michigan head coach Dusty May criticized as “dangerous.”
In one, Fiers tripped Michigan State’s Axel Landberg with his right foot.
Whether it is intentional or not, only fear knows.
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On the same play, Fiers pushed Landberg away from behind while Landberg was in the air for a transition layup attempt.
The play saw Fiers assessed a flagrant foul.
As a result of these incidents, Fiers became famous heading into Sunday’s game.
Tom Izzo stands up for his point guard
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has previously criticized Fiers for this type of play, telling reporters after the Minnesota game that “Jeremy’s got to grow up a little bit.”
But on Sunday, he didn’t do that. Despite Cardo taking a nasty kick to the groin, he remained steadfast in guarding his point guard. Instead, Izzo blamed the technical foul on Fiers’ reputation.
“It’s all because of what happened before and now every microscope is on him,” Izzo told CBS. “I didn’t like that. I told him I didn’t even want him to breathe wrong.”
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This may not be the last we hear about Fear v. Michigan. Michigan State has the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament, while Michigan will be the No. 1 seed. The opponent could be headed toward a title fight.
