Aaron Henry's flagrant foul changes momentum; Michigan State vows to rebound from loss to Michigan

Matt Charboneau
The Detroit News

When Aaron Henry’s elbow caught Franz Wagner in the side of the head late in the first half on Thursday night, the resulting flagrant foul call certainly changed the momentum of the game.

There’s little debate over that, regardless of whether the call was a good one.

Michigan closed the half on a 9-2 run to turn a four-point lead into an 11-poInt advantage by halftime, then blitzed Michigan State with 10 straight points in the opening minutes of the second half to blow the game open and cruise to a 69-50 victory, earning the Big Ten championship in the process.

Michigan guard Eli Brooks and Michigan State forward Aaron Henry battle for a loose ball in the first half.

“I'm very disappointed in the way we played,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “I thought our guard play was very poor early and then we got in a little bit of foul trouble. We were playing OK when Aaron ... I didn't see these flagrant fouls. I mean, there's more stoppages right now in a game and it's no fun to even play the games. I'm not saying right, wrong or indifferent, but Aaron's call, when he's going up for a shot he gets hit. I didn't see it, but that changed the game. We’re going to the free-throw line we're three minutes left and all of a sudden a couple of baskets and then we’re down 11.

“Then we start the second half with two big stops and two big baskets and then the ball’s on the floor and we didn’t dive after it. They get a three and it went downhill.”

While the call helped change the momentum, it hardly qualified as the reason Michigan took over in the second half and ran Michigan State out of the gym. Even Izzo wasn’t letting his team off the hook, saying it was no reason to lose focus over the final three minutes of the first half and throughout the second.

“It shouldn't have been,” Izzo said. “It was a big call because it put (Henry) on the bench. And I did not see it, so was it a right or wrong call? I don't know. Was it a turning point? It was a big play, so let's just say that it if it was the right call, it was still a big play.”

Michigan State didn’t measure up the rest of the game.

The Spartans (14-11, 8-11 Big Ten) missed all nine of their 3-pointers, the first time they failed to make a long-range shot in a game since 2013. They also had too many defensive lapses as Michigan went 7-for-16 from 3-point range and used a 22-4 run to put the game away in the second half.

“There was kind of this extra chip on our shoulders and we really wanted to come out and compete,” Michigan State’s Joey Hauser said. “We kind of let ourselves down a little bit and didn’t do the things that we planned on doing

“But really, we didn't shoot the ball well. Defensively we felt we did a pretty decent job and had a couple of screens that we screwed up on, but they made some shots. We’ve got to shoot the ball better and get the ball moving more on offense to get our guys open looks and kick-out threes and open drives.”

There was very little of that for Michigan State.

Henry was, once again, the Spartans’ only consistent offensive threat, but with little help. The Wolverines made life tough on Henry. He scored 14 points but was only 6-for-15 shooting and turned the ball over four times.

No other Michigan State player managed to reach double figures as Joshua Langford was 2-for-10 and Rocket Watts was 3-for-8.

“It’s really difficult when our best shooters are having to be our playmakers,” Izzo said. “So we’ve had some problems there that we’ll get straightened out, I think, but I don't know (why we’ve been shooting poorly). I didn't think we took a lot of bad shots. I thought we missed some good shots in the first half, and they missed some shots, too. And in the second half, we missed more shots and they made some shots. That was the difference in the game.”

While the Wolverines (19-2, 14-2) celebrated their first conference championship since 2014, the Spartans were already thinking ahead to the rematch Sunday. While four wins in the previous five games have gotten Michigan State back in the NCAA Tournament bubble, a win over the Wolverines could be the clincher. Lose a second straight, and there will be work necessary at next week’s Big Ten tournament.

“I think we felt good enough that we played good enough in stretches, and we think we know why some things went our away,” Izzo said, “and we'll keep that between me and my team, and then we'll go from there.

“We’ll bounce back. We've been here before, a lot this year.”

Added Hauser, “The good thing is we get a crack at them again on Sunday.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau