AJ Hoggard aggression is the key to MSU sustaining success

Michigan State is entering a critical stretch of play which could dictate the NCAA Tournament seeding and AJ Hoggard is the key to success.

Michigan State put together one of their most impressive performances of the year Saturday evening versus Illinois.

The questions are: What changed, and can they keep it going?

The answers are: AJ Hoggard asserting himself, and we can only hope.

🏀 23 points
🏀 5 assists

AJ Hoggard was clutch for @MSU_Basketball in their win over No. 10 Illinois. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/dEKRzDj6WW

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 10, 2024

One of the more surprising developments for the Spartans this year has been a lack of free throw shooting. To date, Michigan State has attempted 444 free throws. This places them at 13th in the conference. The gap between the Spartans and the first place Boilermakers is 166 attempts.

A part of this can be explained through offensive game flow. Michigan State lacks the presence of an offensive threat at the center position. The ball finds its way to the post less for the Spartans than the vast majority of teams in the BigTen. This will understandably decrease the amount of fouls that take place in the paint, therefore lowering the number of free throw attempts.

That’s not the full story, though. To this point in the season, AJ Hoggard hasn’t been nearly as aggressive attacking the hoop off the dribble this season as most expected. From the tip of the game Saturday afternoon, you could tell he was operating in that extra gear fans have been waiting to see. Whether in transition or creating his own shot off the dribble, Hoggard played through contact and willed himself to his best performance of the season.

The aggression that Hoggard showed resulted in him attempting a season high 13 free throw attempts and he’d convert on 12 of them. It’s not a coincidence that Michigan State’s best game of the season was simultaneously the same game where Hoggard added a dozen points at the line. Another reason in particular this was an important development is that Hoggard also leads the Spartans free throw shooting percentage at 82.6%. We’ve already seen poor free throw shooting cost the Spartans games this year, such as Minnesota. It’s not just enough to get to the line, you have to make them count. For the Spartans, that means Hoggard needs to be the one in those positions. While the Spartans went 7-for-17 from the line against Minnesota, Hoggard didn’t have a single attempt. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Michigan State needs Hoggard to keep functioning in his aggression in order for this team to have any measure of success this season.