Content warning: This story contains references to gun violence
Following a horrific mass shooting that left three students dead at Michigan State University on Monday, the Spartan community is hurting. Friends and colleagues across the state, nation and globe are hurting with and for them.
So in Saturday’s game between the Michigan men’s basketball team and Michigan State, basketball will be at the backburner — and healing at the forefront.
“MSU is our in-state rival, but first and foremost, they are family and neighbors,” Michigan athletics spokesperson Kurt Svoboda said in a statement to The Daily. “They are colleagues and friends, former teammates and familiar foes. Our stories are interwoven and we share their grief.
“The Michigan Athletic Department has been in constant communication with our colleagues at Michigan State University to offer our assistance and support during this unspeakably tragic week. Our teams are doing what they can to show their support in various ways.”
Saturday’s matchup at Crisler Center will be the first time the Wolverines host a Spartan team in any athletic event since the tragedy, which will offer a direct way for Michigan to continue showing support. That opportunity to provide face-to-face support on the court is one the Wolverines look to embrace.
Following Michigan State’s 48-hour shutdown of all campus activities in response to the shooting — which included its men’s basketball team postponing its Wednesday game against Minnesota — the Spartans’ athletic department spoke to its student athletes and medical professionals. From there, they decided to resume competition beginning Saturday.
That return centers around healing.
“Athletics can be a rallying point for a community in need of healing, a fact many of our student-athletes have mentioned to me,” Michigan State athletics director Alan Haller said in a statement. “The opportunity to represent our entire community has never felt greater. … It became apparent that a return to practice and competition is a crucial part of (our student-athletes’) recovery.”
Hallar recognized that everyone grieves differently and some won’t be ready to return to athletics yet, quoting Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s Wednesday speech and emphasizing a focus of “taking care of one another.”
When the Wolverines share the court with their intrastate counterparts this weekend, the grief that their opponents are struggling with will hit close to home.
“A school that you’re so familiar with (and have) so many connections to, to happen there, it’s sad and it’s shocking,” junior guard Jace Howard told The Daily on Wednesday. “… It’s so awful, it just keeps on happening, kids that are just going to school, kids that are your age, that you can meet and that you might have met before.”
Fellow college students and players like Jace will undoubtedly provide any support they can to Spartans suiting up to play them. Michigan, meanwhile, hopes to surround the court with support as well.
Although the Wolverines will still be honoring their 2013 Final Four team at halftime, while also hosting a ‘Maize Out’ — contrary to calls asking for a more direct showing toward Michigan State like a ‘White Out,’ a Spartan tradition at Breslin Center — they intend to honor the victims and the Michigan State community through it.
Michigan’s student section, Maize Rage, will wear maize-colored shirts that read “Michigan basketball stands with MSU,” pinned with green ribbons. Michigan players will don specially-designed shirts honoring the victims pre-game. LED wristbands will light up Crisler Center in green and white during a moment of silence. A ‘Spartan Strong’ flag will hang in front of the Maize Rage and the Wolverines’ band will perform the Spartans’ alma mater.
“I think what we are really trying to do is bring some sense of community and solidarity,” Maize Rage president Zach Linfield told The Daily on Thursday. “… And I think the Maize Rage, and I hope fans in general helping along with what we’re doing, is going to be a really strong message to not only the school, but to the victims’ families.”
No moment of silence or supportive message can take the pain away. As the Michigan State community grieves, its men’s basketball team will continue to do so in Ann Arbor while trying to begin healing.
And Michigan wants to welcome the Spartans in with open arms of love and support.