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Charles Barkley blasts Tom Izzo’s critics following heated exchange with Aaron Henry

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Charles Barkley isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Yes, I’m aware that’s the most obvious statement in the world.

The opinionated former NBA star and basketball analyst had a few thoughts on Tom Izzo’s heated exchange with Aaron Henry during Michigan State’s win over Bradley on Thursday. Basically, Barkley told everyone criticizing the longtime head coach to “shut up.”

“One of the reasons Tom Izzo is one of my favorite coaches is that he coaches his team,” Barkley said before Friday’s round of March Madness games. “I was so disappointed to hear all these jackasses on other networks complaining.

“Coach Izzo. You keep doing your thing. It’s alright for a coach to yell at a player. When did we get to the point where every time a coach yells at a player, it becomes a national emergency? So shout out to Coach Izzo. Keep doing your thing.”

Izzo got into the face of Henry early in the second half of Thursday games due to the forward’s effort. The Spartans head coach had to be restrained by other players after yelling at Henry multiple times.

Here’s the exchange, in case you missed it:

Izzo’s reaction has been met with plenty of criticism since Thursday afternoon. But current and former players have jumped to the head coach’s defense after the incident.

Was this the best look for Izzo? Probably not. But it doesn’t seem that many of his current or former players — or anyone else who has spent time playing basketball at the college or professional level — took it quite as personally as some on social media.

Barkley had no trouble telling those critics off in the only way he knows how.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB