Aaron Henry is doing it on his own now.
And from Tom Izzo’s vantage point, as he watches his Michigan State team try to claw its way back into the Big Ten race after an alarming start, that’s probably the most encouraging part of this new year.
It’s not just the production he’s getting from Henry, the junior forward who has scored 47 points — shooting 62% from the field — to go with 12 rebounds and five blocks in back-to-back wins for the Spartans. It’s more than the stellar defensive effort Henry turned in, too, as Michigan State dismantled No. 15 Rutgers, 68-45, at the Breslin Center on Tuesday night.
Mostly, it’s that none of it felt forced, the way it often did through Henry’s first two seasons in East Lansing, and even at times back in November and December.
“I think Aaron Henry’s playing at a whole other level,” Izzo said after Tuesday’s win. “It’s just his whole demeanor right now. He’s been very coachable, not that he hasn’t been this year. But he’s just doing the things that he needs to do to become a great player. He’s got a ways to go, but I think that starts it.”
And considering how this Big Ten season began for the Spartans, that’s probably the only way they were going to get this turned around, with Henry beginning to fulfill his potential as an All-Big Ten talent and legitimate pro prospect.
Well, that, and remembering some of the program’s core principles, which Michigan State certainly did Tuesday, limiting Rutgers to 31% shooting, outrebounding Steve Pikiell’s team by a whopping 45-25 margin and taking advantage in transition, even with all turnovers — 18 in all, including 14 in a cringe-worthy first half.
“I felt like we defended tonight,” Henry said, “and kind of got back to some ways that are standards here at Michigan State.”
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For Henry, though, the standards have been raised this season, what with Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman off playing in the NBA and Henry back after contemplating making the same jump himself.
And while much has been made about the relationship between Izzo and Henry over the last two years — too much, actually, ever since their one-sided sideline confrontation in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament went viral — if you ask either of them now what has changed, you’ll hear a similar answer.
“I think it’s his consistency,” Izzo said. “He’s in the gym more, he’s working more, I think he’s growing up. I think it’s the process. … Everybody needs someone to be so good so quick. We’re just such a fast-twitch society right now, everybody wants it (immediately). But I think he’s growing up, he’s maturing, he’s starting to understand, and I think he’s starting to trust people more.”
Henry calls it “practicing my approach,” and after countless conversations about just what that really means, he’s starting to see it pay off, it seems.
“I try to hold myself accountable, to not ever be complacent,” Henry said. “That’s the thing that has gotten me to this point, and that’s the thing that’ll continue (to help) me from this point on.”
And if you were watching closely Tuesday night, there was a point where it showed early in the game. After the win over Rutgers, as Izzo was busy praising Henry’s performance, he talked about how efficient it had been, notwithstanding his four turnovers. Henry finished with 20 points on a 24% usage rate, which was his second-lowest in the last 10 games. And of his 13 field-goal attempts, Izzo said, “I thought he took one bad shot."
That shot came just a few minutes into Tuesday’s game, as both teams were busy trading empty possessions. Henry posted up Rutgers guard Montez Mathis on the right block, took an entry feed from Josh Langford, dribbled once, and then put up a turnaround fadeaway that clanged off the back iron. Even the cardboard cutouts sitting courtside could hear Izzo yelling “Aaron!” from the home team’s bench at the other end of the court.
But by the time the coach could confront his star player directly, Henry already had made amends. After a Rutgers made basket, Henry sprinted downcourt and made an acrobatic reverse layup on the Spartans’ next possession, he blocked Jacob Young’s layup at the other end, and then he calmly drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing for another transition bucket to cap an early 9-0 run for Michigan State before the first media timeout.
Izzo had a message for him when he got back to the huddle — “It was a little fadeaway that wasn’t awful, I just thought at the time he could’ve gotten in there,” the coach explained later — but they both already knew. And that’s the key here, that level of understanding that should help unlock more of the ability in Henry’s 6-foot-6, 215-pound body.
“Aaron’s the type of guy that he’s got so many great qualities, and yet since the day he got here, his father, myself, the other coaches, it was like, ‘You just gotta push him,’” Izzo said. “Now he’s starting to be self-motivated. And that’s the difference between good and great, I think. When you’re self-motivated, you’re gonna watch a little more film, you’re gonna do a little more shooting, your practices are a little bit more intense. When you want to do things for yourself, it’s always better than doing it for somebody else. And I just think that’s the maturity and that’s the growth.”
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Henry’s playing with more confidence this season, clearly. But also with more control of late, and that’s something that the coaching staff has been hammering away at for some time now, whether it’s working on two-foot jump stops in the paint to better utilize his athleticism finishing at the rim, or all the extra time Henry has spent refining his three-point shot. (After a 3-for-19 start from behind the line, he’s 5-for-9 the last two games.)
Izzo might’ve found an answer these last two games, with freshman A.J. Hoggard moving into the starting lineup at point guard. But if Michigan State is going extend its 22-year NCAA tournament streak this spring, the coaches will need to find different ways to get Rocket Watts and Joey Hauser more involved in the offense. And from Henry, they’ll need more of everything, including getting to the line with greater frequency. (He’s averaging only three attempts a game thus far.)
Still, what we’ve seen this past week is something to build on.
“I’m not ready to canonize it yet, because it’s been a couple games, you know?” Izzo said. “But I think there’s a real comfort level now that I have a base to go back to and say, ‘Hey, this is why you’re playing better.’”
And a real belief, perhaps, that Henry doesn't even need to be told.
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