DES MOINES, Iowa — While the second-seeded Michigan State Spartans escaped Bradley 76-65 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday, the biggest story coming out of the game came from a timeout exchange in the second half. Upset about a lack of defensive effort, MSU coach Tom Izzo yelled at freshman forward Aaron Henry, and some on Twitter and in national media thought he crossed a line into physical intimidation and emotional abuse.
Reaction to Tom Izzo's coaching of Aaron Henry
March 22, 2019
In response to the national reaction, some media members and former MSU players came to Izzo's defense, saying he clearly had Henry's best interests in mind.
Henry was asked about it during Friday's press availability in advance of the second-seeded Spartans' matchup with tenth-seeded Minnesota on Saturday.
"It’s not a big deal, it’s just him coaching, him being him, trying to get the best out of me, trying to get me to stop playing how I was playing," Henry said. "I really don’t see what’s so wrong with that, you want him to be quiet if I’m not doing this, want him to just wave me off and be quiet? I wouldn’t want that for myself… it shows he cares."
He said he had to turn his phone off Thursday night because he was getting so many texts, calls, and Twitter mentions.
Minnesota coach Richard Pitino commented on it during his press conference. To him, he is not surprised by the outrage that sparked.
"There is outrage with everything that goes on with everything that any of us do, so that's not a surprise," Pitino said. "As for Coach Izzo, I've coached against him for six years and I've never seen a group of players that play harder, respect and love more than Coach Izzo. He's going to be hard on them, but every single player when he talks to them, (he puts an) arm around them. He's tough on them. He should be tough on them ... those players are lucky to play for him."
Izzo was asked at his press conference about the national reaction, after he strongly defended his actions yesterday.
"I learned in the last couple of years about sound bytes, and there is a 10-second sound byte in a two-year relationship," Izzo said. "The 10 seconds, you gotta appreciate that there is a year and a half of recruiting. There is a year that he's been there now. There is hours and hours and hours spent on what did you want to accomplish? What do you need to do to accomplish that? What do you need to do to help our team win? If you don't do those things what do you think my job is? So (I am) a little bit surprised. This day and age, it doesn't. To me it was ridiculous the way it blew up. I would publicly thank the many, many people that just saw it as ridiculous."
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Michigan State and Minnesota tip off at 7:45 p.m. EDT Saturday, with the winner advancing to the East Regional semifinal.
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