Here’s (probably) why Tom Izzo lit up Aaron Henry during win over Bradley
By Josh Hill
Tom Izzo had to be separated from one of his players, and we now apparently know why.
Nothing makes Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo madder than March — well, that and freshman Aaron Henry.
Late in the Spartans opening round win over Bradley on Thursday, Izzo ran onto the floor during a timeout to reprimand freshman guard Aaron Henry. It wasn’t clear why Izzo was so animated but it didn’t matter at the time — he was heated.
Television replays didn’t show anything egregious that Henry had done to incur the wrath of Izzo but the list of reasons wasn’t very long.
It’s been pointed out, and appeared obvious with a little hindsight, that Izzo was losing his mind over an apparent lack of hustle by Henry. The previous few plays showed him lumbering around the floor, clearly coasting on what was a 10-0 run by Michigan State at the time.
It ended up being a nothing more than a footnote on a win by the Spartans. Things looked dicey for most of the game, with 15-seeded Bradley hanging with the Big Ten titans right up until the final moments of the game.
We don’t know for sure what the whole spat was about because Izzo never addressed it. Henry probably wants to clear the air but after getting laid into by his coach the way he did, re-living it by talking about it might not be high on his list of things to do.
Rather, he should focus his attention on how to approach Saturday’s game against Minnesota and how getting reamed on national television can be avoided.