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Michigan State's A.J. Hoggard joins ELITE milestone club of past Spartans

Originally posted on FanNation Spartan Nation
By Matthew Lounsberry | Last updated 1/31/24

Michigan State senior A.J. Hoggard has had an "interesting" four-year career in East Lansing, in the words of head coach Tom Izzo, but the Spartans' point guard was one of several MSU team members to reach a career milestone on Tuesday night against rival Michigan.

With a fastbreak layup through traffic in the final minute of Michigan State's 81-62 win over the Wolverines, Hoggard became the 56th player to reach 1,000 career points as a Spartan. Earlier this season, the senior also eclipsed the 500-assist threshold, and he now sits at 532 career assists.

The combination of 1,000 career points and 500 career assists is a rare feat in Michigan State men's basketball history, and places Hoggard in elite company. Only six other Spartans belong in the exclusive club — Scott Skiles (1982-86: 2,145 points, 645 assists); Mateen Cleaves (1996-2000: 1,541 points, 816 assists); Drew Neitzel (2004-08: 1,534 points, 582 assists); Kalin Lucas (2007-11: 1,996 points, 558 assists); Denzel Valentine (2012-16: 1,645 points, 639 assists) and Cassius Winston (2016-20: 1,969 points, 890 assists).

On the night, Hoggard finished with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and added seven assists, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. The fact that he was able to reach 1,000 career points in a game against Michigan made the moment even more special for the senior.

“Getting it on a night like this is definitely special," Hoggard said. "Getting to do it in front of your rivals, in front of your home crowd, I definitely wanted to do it at a home game. Being able to do that was definitely big for me.”

Michigan State trailed the Wolverines by two points at halftime, and Izzo challenged his senior point guard to lead the Spartans back.

"At halftime, I wasn't thinking about his 1,000th point," the head coach said. "I was thinking about the mistakes we were making. To his credit, I said, 'If you and Tyson don't play better we're not going to win.' And they both played better. A.J. kind of ran our team and made very few mistakes.

"I'm happy for him because it meant a lot to him. You get to be in an elite group...that's not something everybody gets to do. So, I'm really happy that he did it in three and a half years. That's pretty good. I'm proud of him."

Hoggard is the third Michigan State player to reach 1,000 career points this season, joining Malik Hall who reached the 1,000-career point plateau vs. Minnesota on Jan. 18, and Walker who reached 1,000 points in his MSU career vs. Oakland on Dec. 18. With three rebounds against Michigan, Hall now has 601 for his career, making him the 22nd Spartan to reach 1,000 points and 600 rebounds. Walker, who played two seasons at Northeastern before transferring to MSU, now has 1,858 points in his full college career.

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