Tom Izzo not the only one to reach a career milestone against Michigan

Tom Izzo won his 700th game as Michigan State’s head coach on Tuesday night but he wasn’t the only one to hit a milestone.

The obvious headline from the Spartans 81-62 win over Michigan is Tom Izzo reaching his 700th career win. However, Izzo wasn’t the only Spartan to reach a massive milestone during this game.

AJ Hoggard, who by the way had another excellent game on Tuesday night, reached 1,000 career points.

1,000 career points for @ajhoggard3 🙌🙌🙌 pic.twitter.com/x4qDtGNCNR

— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) January 31, 2024

AJ Hoggard reaches 1,000 career points

Heading into the matchup with Michigan, Hoggard needed 15 more points to reach 1,000. He is definitely more than capable of scoring that many points, but I wasn’t sure if he actually would in this game or not. He, however, did just enough on Tuesday, finishing with exactly 15 points.

Hoggard had an all-around great game for Michigan State against Michigan. On top of his 15 points, he also finished with seven assists, four rebounds and only two turnovers. He also played excellent defense and was one of the main reasons the Spartans dominated Michigan in the second half.

With as big as the night already was, it’s only fitting that another Spartan was able to add to the amazing night as well.

Where does this rank in MSU history?

Hoggard is now the 46th player to reach 1,000 points scored in an MSU uniform. Funny enough, he’s actually the third Spartan to hit this mark this season.

Malik Hall hit 1,000 career points against Minnesota a few weeks ago at home. Tyson Walker also reached this milestone against Oakland back in December as well. Tyson already had 1,000 career points prior to this when you add in his career at Northeastern, but the game against Oakland brought him to 1,000 points just in a Michigan State uniform.

AJ Hoggard has been playing some really high-level basketball recently. As mentioned, he played extremely well against Michigan, but he also was one of the only bright spots in the Spartans’ loss to Wisconsin last week. He led the team with 19 points and four assists in the loss to the Badgers.

I’m happy for AJ to see him hit this milestone. I’m even more excited to see his play improve so much recently and I hope that continues as the season goes on.