Two weeks ago, MSU had just beaten Iowa, 63-61, and A.J. Hoggard had missed a key free throw down the stretch which would have made the win a little less stressful for the Spartans. He also had missed a couple free throws against Purdue a couple weeks prior, in the Spartans one-point loss to the Boilermakers.

It was about ten minutes after the game and people were still milling about the Breslin Center when Hoggard emerged from the locker room and walked directly to the free throw line. He spent the next ten minutes or so shooting free throws. He was determined to get himself out of his slump.

Fast forward to Tuesday night in East Lansing. MSU was leading by two versus Maryland and it was that time of the game again – the foul was coming. And Hoggard had the ball in his hands, ready to step up to the charity stripe, with the game on the line and a national audience watching to see how he would do.

His coach was confident.

“A year ago, if I had him in the game, he would have been taking it out [of bounds],” said MSU coach Tom Izzo. “Now, he’s the guy I want to have the ball.”

Asked why Hoggard is the guy in that setting that he trusts with the ball in his hands, Izzo doubles down.

“He’s earned that,” Izzo said. “That’s what people don’t understand. You earn the right, it’s not given to you. You earn it by shooting a bazillion free throws, which he has.”

The MSU coaching staff doesn’t just leave this stuff to chance. There is a method to their decision making and it played out the way Izzo expected it to Tuesday night at the Breslin Center. There's analytics to it -- and Hoggard has proven himself to the coaching staff.

“So why do I want AJ to have the ball [in those situations]?” Izzo asked. “Because every night before a game, we shoot free throws for 15 minutes. The kid’s gotta shoot about 100 of them. We chart every single one, every single time before a game. I don’t think he’s been below 90 (percent) one time.”