Tom Izzo's mission: Fix Michigan State basketball's A.J. Hoggard with Big Ten play nearing

EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo looked forlorn and paused for a second, pursing his lips and looking down toward the podium.

The question was about how A.J. Hoggard responded to coming off the bench for the first time in nearly a year.

Izzo’s response continued his quest for his senior point guard — and a few other veterans for Michigan State basketball — to play closer to his expectations of them.

“I'm trying everything I can try to get A.J. to play at a level that I think he’s capable of playing at,” Izzo said after the 25th-ranked Spartans’ 86-55 victory Tuesday night at Breslin Center. For the most part, I've pampered him, I've yelled at him, I've done this and that. So I just said we’re gonna try something different. …

“Read my lips, hear my voice — I think he’s a hell of a player. He’s gotta play a lot better than he’s been playing, and I think he can. And I just gotta keep pushing buttons, and I'm going to keep pushing buttons until I figure it out. But the bottom line is, if I help him, he helps us; if I don't help him, we don't get help, either.”

Izzo made it clear it wasn’t a punishment or meant for embarrassment of Hoggard, who had 12 points and four assists in 22 minutes while backing up sophomore starter Tre Holloman and freshman Jeremy Fears Jr. Holloman finished with a career-high 10 assists and seven points in 22 minutes, while Fears had a career-high 10 rebounds with six points in 19 minutes.

As for Hoggard, he flashed back to the last time — the only game last season — he came off the bench, in last year's Big Ten-opening loss to Northwestern on Dec. 4, 2022.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound point guard was committing 3.8 turnovers per game in starting MSU's first eight games of 2022-23, which offset his 11.5 points and 6.1 assists. Hoggard started the remaining 25 games, and his turnovers dropped to 2.2 a game from that point onward. His scoring increased at the same time to 13.3 points after his benching in helping the Spartans to their first Sweet 16 since 2019.

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This year, it isn’t so much about turning the ball over — he’s averaging two per game — as much as it is an overall malaise Hoggard called “senioritis." He is averaging 9.6 points, 4.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds, but shooting just 34.4% overall and 2-for-14 from 3-point range. Hoggard’s defense has not been as intense, and his free-throw shooting also has dipped to 77.8% after making better than 80% all last season.

“I'm hoping that's exactly what happens,” Hoggard said, thinking back to last year’s turning-point benching. “That was a good movie that I watched last year after I came off the bench. Things started going to uphill for me. I'm just taking it day-by-day.

The Spartans (4-3) are off until they open Big Ten play on Tuesday at home against Wisconsin. Tipoff is 7 p.m. (streaming only on Peacock, no TV broadcast).

“Got a big game coming up, home (Big Ten) opener. I gotta be ready for that,” Hoggard said. “I kind of gotta use my senioritis and kind of rally these younger guys and get them ready for Big Ten play, because it's definitely different than playing non-conference.”

Izzo also continued to press for more consistent production from his other guards, junior Jaden Akins and senior Tyson Walker. Akins led MSU with 14 points and six rebounds, though those boards all came in the first half. Walker had 13 points with three rebounds but hasn’t looked the same since missing a Nov. 19 win over Alcorn State with an illness.

Akins and Walker combined to go 12-for-24 from the field and had two of the Spartans’ eight steals Tuesday. Izzo also liked the early-season improvement and progression he’s seen from senior forward Malik Hall, who had 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a steal.

“It was really good to see Jeremy and Tre play well. But let's face it — we're gonna go as our best players go,” Izzo said. “And A.J. and Jaden and Tyson and Malik, they gotta play well. We got more out of Malik tonight, I just think there's just a lot more to get.”

As for Hoggard, Izzo said he hopes watching from the bench will be a spark again, in large part because with his floor general’s ups and downs so far, “we’re not gonna be as good until A.J. starts playing where he is capable of playing.”

Hoggard did not enter the game until the 13:33 mark of the opening half, scoring four points with one assist, two turnovers and two of his three steals. Izzo liked more of what he saw after halftime, as Hoggard made 3 of 4 shots for eight points with three assists and a rebound in 13 minutes of the second half.

For his part, Hoggard tried to see the positives from what he saw from the bench.

“Especially with the other point guards out there, I can see the plays that we're running, see what we get, see what he didn't see. Just looking at it differently from the bench is definitely different in playing,” he said. “So I kind of see different things that are opening up — how they're guarding different things, how they're guarding Tyson or Jaden, or they're guarding the post. So I kind of see those things early and get a better feel going in.”

Izzo also made clear his personal directive to help Hoggard: “It's my job to help him succeed.”

“When you talk to a person and they say, 'What do you mean?' that’s not a good sign, because you should know what you mean. You watch tape, you listen to coaches, you should know what you mean,” Izzo said. “So I'm just trying to find a way to do him a favor, and that’s make him a great player. Because he’s better than he’s playing.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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Next up: Badgers

Matchup: No. 25 Michigan State (4-3) vs. Wisconsin (5-2).

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Dec. 5; Breslin Center, East Lansing.

TV/radio: Peacock (streaming only), WJR-AM (760).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mission for Michigan State basketball's Tom Izzo: Fix A.J. Hoggard