Jeremy Fears finds himself in the middle of another controversy after 'dirty' play vs. Minnesota

For a third straight game, Michigan State came out sloppy, was out-toughed for the entire first half, and was forced to play catch-up in the second half, but for the second consecutive contest, the Spartans fell short.

After coming back to beat Rutgers, Michigan State nearly had another comeback in store for Michigan, turning a 16-point halftime deficit into a 2-point lead with eight minutes left. Unfortunately, that comeback fell short as the Spartans fumbled that lead away to lose by 12.

Once again, the Spartans fell short of a comeback on Wednesday night in Minneapolis against a sub-.500 Minnesota team. A boneheaded mistake by Jeremy Fears contributed to that loss.

Down 45-40 in the second half with all the momentum, Fears had the ball at the top of the key, got nudged by a Minnesota defender, and responded with a flailing kick to that Gopher's groin.

He now finds himself in the middle of yet another controversy.

These are the types of plays that drive fans crazy because just why? There's no point in trying to over-sell a foul when you can just trust the refs to do their job, and if they don't, you don't need to go above and beyond to try and force them to. That just leads to situations like this.

Fears' mistake cost the Spartans the ball and gave Minnesota a quick little run that put the game out of reach.

Is Jeremy Fears developing a reputation?

Do I think Fears is truly a dirty player? No, I actually don't think he is, but he's making too many emotional mistakes lately. That trip against Yaxel Lendeborg was a bad look, and then there's this against Minnesota which is pretty indefensible.

Fears is way too talented to be doing stuff like this. These are the kinds of plays you make when you're not very good and you have to muck things up to be competitive.

Jeremy's too good for that.

Fears needs to get out of his head, play his game, and avoid the silly mental mistakes like we've seen over the past couple of games that's earned him a questionable reputation as a "dirty" player.

A call from Draymond Green telling him it's not worth it may be in order.