Tom Izzo expresses pride in AJ Hoggard after reaching 1,000 career points
There was a lot to celebrate in the Breslin Center on Tuesday night as Michigan State dominated rival Michigan in an 81-62 win, head coach Tom Izzo notched his 700th career win, and guard AJ Hoggard scored his 1,000th career point.
Izzo was asked about Hoggard’s accomplishment after the win, admitting that during the game it wasn’t necessarily his main focus. A mentality that’s likely helped the legendary head man become just the 38th head coach in Division I history to reach the 700-win mark.
“Well I am really proud of AJ because it’s been an interesting four years to say the least,” Izzo said. “And at halftime, I wasn’t thinking about his thousandth point, I was thinking about the mistakes we were making.”
The Spartans found themselves down two points to the Wolverines at halftime with their two leading scorers, Hoggard and Tyson Walker, scoring just five points apiece. Leading to Izzo lighting a fire under the two and Hoggard scoring 10 second half points, the exact number he needed to achieve the 1,000 point milestone.
“And to his credit, I said if you and Tyson don’t play better we’re not gonna win, and they both played better. I mean even Ty didn’t shoot it like he normally does but he got after it a little more, and AJ kind of ran our team and made very few mistakes,” Izzo said.
Hoggard and the Spartans responded on both ends of the floor in a major way in the second half, outscoring the Wolverines 48-27 to close out the game strong. Propelling Hoggard into rarified air in the Michigan State program record books.
“But I’m happy for him because it meant a lot for him, you get to be in an elite group. Whatever the thousand-point scorers, however many there are, that’s not something everybody gets to do. So I am really happy and he did it in three and a half years, a little over, it’s pretty good,” Izzo concluded.
AJ Hoggard’s layup with 40 seconds remaining in the game made him the 56th player in program history to reach the 1,000 career points milestone. Joining an even more exclusive group on Tuesday night as well becoming just the seventh player in school history to record 1,000 career points and 500 career assists joining Scott Skiles, Denzel Valentine, Mateen Cleaves, Cassius Winston, Drew Neitzel, and Kalin Lucas.