The head coach took the heat early and Michigan took control late.
Dusty May set the tone before tipoff and Michigan followed originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Dusty May didn’t wait for tipoff to feel the Breslin Center.
When Michigan arrived, the lines outside told him everything. Anticipation. Tension. A building ready to unload. So May stepped onto the floor early, took a look around and immediately found himself face to face with the Michigan State student section.
“And I was greeted as soon as I stuck my head out,” May said in his postgame press conference. “At that point, there was no way I was ducking and running from this smoke.”
So he stood there and took it. Alone. Letting the chants and frustration pour out before his players ever touched the court. The moment went viral within minutes, but inside Michigan’s locker room it carried a simple message.
This doesn’t scare us.
Dusty May is in the building and MSU students are giving it to him. pic.twitter.com/iUCGkjjJVa
— Lucas Gentilia (@LucasM_Gentilia) January 30, 2026
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What followed looked exactly like a Breslin game is supposed to. Michigan jumped out early. Michigan State clawed back. The second half turned into a physical, possession by possession grind where rhythm disappeared and every inch was contested.
Michigan wobbled. May admitted afterwards that he waited too long to burn a timeout and that a few careless decisions fueled the crowd. But when the game tightened, this Michigan team showed a maturity it didn’t have a year ago.
They rebounded. They defended. They didn’t fold.
Yaxel Lendeborg was everywhere, finishing with 26 points and 12 rebounds, including multiple offensive boards that flipped the game late. May called them the deciding plays. Loose balls. Tip outs. Free throws made in one of the loudest environments in college basketball.
And when Michigan needed control, it put the ball in the hands of Elliot Cadeau.
Cadeau delivered 17 points on 5-8 shooting, knocked down three from beyond the arc, and added six assists while absorbing contact inside against one of the Big Ten’s most physical defenses.
“We just put the ball in his hands,” May said. “He got us some great looks.”
The win wasn’t framed around streaks or history inside the locker room. This team was zero and zero, as May put it. It was about surviving a road test, proving growth, and showing the ability to win when the game stops being pretty.
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“I think we proved that we can still win in different ways,” May said.
Before the game, May stood in the storm so his players wouldn’t have to flinch when it hit. They walked into a hostile environment and walked out with an statement win.
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