Michigan State Basketball: Aaron Henry showing growth with Izzo’s coaching

Despite all the negative attention Michigan State basketball coach received after his emotional coaching of Aaron Henry, it seemed to work.

Three years from now, Aaron Henry and a teary-eyed Tom Izzo will share an embrace on the sideline after the Indianapolis-native kisses the Spartan logo in his final home game at the Breslin Center. That is, of course, as long as Henry doesn’t leave early for the NBA.

Izzo’s coaching in the first-round matchup against Bradley caught national attention because, well, it was a slow news day, apparently.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Izzo got into his freshman wing for some mistakes he made against Bradley and some believe he went ‘too far’ in front of a national audience. Most former players (including Spartans) and prominent TV personalities backed the Hall of Fame head coach.

But no one cared to ask what Henry thought outside of the local media.

Spoiler alert: he didn’t see it as a big deal.

Alas, the media ran with a non-story and painted Izzo as some crazed lunatic who had lost his cool and is on track to be the next Bobby Knight, personality-wise.

How could Henry ever rebound from some a terrible verbal thrashing?

The freshman went on to have one of his best games as a Spartan, scoring nine points with nine rebounds and looking as poised as anyone on the floor.

https://twitter.com/WorldofIsaac/status/1109656968329859073

Could this possibly silence the “this isn’t constructive coaching” crowd? Probably not, but it does go to show that Izzo is an effective and successful coach no matter how much he yells at his players and is “too harsh” with the team.

So in three years when Henry is going down as one of the best players to come through the program under Izzo and he’s getting a standing ovation on Senior Day, just remember this moment was just one of many coaching instances that helped shape him.