Oftentimes, iconic moments aren’t planned; they’re a product of unforeseen events, a confluence of circumstances converging.
It’s going to be a long time before Michigan basketball fans forget the Friday night win over Michigan State in East Lansing, but it was all made the more iconic by what happened a good hour and a half before the game even tipped off.
Head coach Dusty May took to the court to a chorus of boos and expletives, and he went and sat on the Michigan bench, with a growing complement of ‘the Izzone,’ the MSU student section, heckling him from behind. What was meant to be an intimidating moment looked like a moment of zen for the second-year Wolverines head coach.
And to hear May tell it, after Michigan’s 83-71 win over the rival Spartans, he wasn’t expecting that moment to happen at all, but he embraced it all once he realized what was going on.
“I was actually just taking a peek,” May said. “I thought when we pulled in, the students were still lined up down the block. And even when we rode in at the Kalamazoo entrance or whatever, there’s a long line. And I stood with the students. I was like, OK, they’re not in yet, but, man, this is, like, we’re building. This is a big time. There’s a lot of anticipation for this game. And so I walked by, and I was greeted.
“As soon as I stuck my head out on the court, and at that point, I was like, there’s no way I’m not going to run from this smoke now. This stuff doesn’t bother me. And so I just let them get all their frustration and their animosity out early, and then that way they can enjoy the game. So I felt like I contributed to the environment just a little bit.”
The videos and pictures will almost certainly live forever in Michigan basketball lore, not unlike Michigan football coaches waving at Ohio State fans in Columbus in 2022. And that’s what you want to see in your rivalry games — no fear of the moment mixed with wins.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Before tipoff, Dusty May owned the moment in East Lansing
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
