Michigan State and Michigan are fierce rivals in sports, but when tragedy strikes, those rivalries on the playing field are moved aside, and animosity turns into compassion. The latter is what's coming to the light, as Michigan was there to help Michigan State recover after a tragic shooting took place on the MSU campus Monday night.

Part of the healing process was on display Saturday evening, when the Spartans and Wolverines were about to play a basketball game in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Crisler Center displayed Spartan green and played the MSU alma mater before tipoff. The contest was Michigan State's first since the shooting took place at their university.

The tribute was for the three students who were shot and killed by a 43-year-old gunman unassociated with the university. Five others were shot and are still in the hospital. The gunman later killed himself after he was found by police a few hours later.

Michigan State University postponed athletic activities for 48 hours, which included a game at home against Minnesota. The basketball team had conversations with head coach Tom Izzo about how to move forward, they wanted to use Saturday night's game with Michigan as a way to give the university a temporary release away from the reality of a mass shooting.

“We played the game to try to make many people back in East Lansing and around the world that are Michigan State alums escape for two hours,” Izzo said after the game, per ESPN.

There's nothing that can take away the sadness of losing people to senseless gun violence, but it's good to see Michigan come to Michigan State's aid at their most vulnerable point. Hopefully, we can get to a point where there aren't so many tragedies like the one Monday night.