Where does the Michigan State men's basketball team stand as the November comes to an end? With a 4-3 record to begin the 2023-2024 season, let's take a look at the confidence report.
Team: Trending Slightly Down
Coming in ranked as a top-five preseason team in the county, Michigan State has barreled its way through the opening stretch of the 2023-2024 season and has already been tested in more ways than the Spartans may have been ready for.
We all know head coach Tom Izzo likes to schedule heavy competition early in the season to better prepare his team for conference play and beyond, however, the Spartans came out of the early stretch with possibly a few more questions than answers given their lofty preseason expectations.
In late October and November, the Spartans dropped games to Tennessee (exhibition), Duke, Arizona and their regular season opener to James Madison, which by all accounts looks to be an NCAA Tournament team out of the Sun Belt. It’s not ideal, but not terribly surprising given how Izzo’s teams usually fare early in the season with high expectations.
The question I have with watching the team early on is why things look so far off from the team we saw just minutes away from making an Elite Eight run eight months ago with virtually the same core group of players. Sure, losing a consistent veteran presence and strong 3-point shooter in Joey Hauser hurts — but this much? The offense looks one-dimensional at times. In all three of their regular season losses thus far, the Spartans were out-rebounded and did not look like the tougher team.
I understand it’s early and this is how it goes. But for a team that finished so strong at the end of the 2022-2023 season, returning most of its lineup and a top-five recruiting class to add, you’d have liked to see a big win.
MSU takes on Baylor at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 16, so a statement could be made there. But for now, let’s evaluate where a couple of the current players are trending early on.
Trending Up: Tre Holloman
Many thought Holloman was slated to be the odd man out coming into this season with a guard-heavy roster — he’s shown in spurts that may not be the case. The sophomore guard made his second career start Tuesday night versus Georgia Southern in a lineup change that shook things up a bit for a team that needed something fresh. The Spartans won the game handily, by a final score of 86-55.
Against the Eagles, Holloman recorded a career-high (and team-high for the game) 10 assits, to go along with seven points.
Holloman is only averaging 5.6 points per game this season, and while most of the production has come in games against weaker opponents, his improvements over the offseason are evident. Izzo has noted multiple times that Holloman was perhaps his most improved player from last year to this year. In limited minutes last season as a freshman, he displayed many aspects of what Izzo wants out of his point guards — defend, lead the break and take care of the ball. His steadiness as a lead guard is an important depth piece for this team, especially in the case where he would have to step in for Tyson Walker or A.J. Hoggard.
Holloman’s biggest improvement has come with his shooting — while on low volume (16 attempts), he has made 50 percent of his shots, including a perfect (5-for-5) night from 3-point range against Alcorn State in his first career start on Nov 19.
With the team shooting a less than stellar 26.9 percent from beyond the arc as a whole on the season, Holloman has been the lone bright spot. If he can maintain a decent clip from deep,, his minutes should continue to rise.
Sliding: A.J. Hoggard
If this were a real market, it would be a good time to buy heavy on Hoggard. His start to this season has been disappointing considering the way he may have been the best player for the Spartans down the stretch during the NCAA Tournament in March.
As mentioned, he was benched in place of Holloman in Tuesday’s game versus Georgia Southern in what seems to be more of a motivational tactic from Izzo:
“I'm trying everything I can try to get A.J. to play at a level that I think he’s capable of playing at,” Izzo said following their 86-55 victory over the Eagles.
Izzo continued by saying that he thinks Hoggard is a "hell of a player," but that the point guard has "gotta play a lot better than he's been playing." Izzo mentioned he is going to "keep pushing buttons" to get Hoggard to play with more consistency.
In seven games so far this season, Hoggard is averaging 9.6 points per game on 34.4% shooting (14.3 percent from 3-point range). Although a small sample, you would like to see his numbers be better, notably against some of the ranked teams they’ve played so far. In MSU's Championship Classic game versus, Duke, Hoggard had just two points in 31 minutes. That isn’t acceptable in games that will matter on the Spartan’s tournament resume.
Hoggard does lead the Spartans in assists with 29 total (4.1 per game), compared to 2.0 turnovers per game.
This team goes as much as Hoggard takes them. That’s how it was down the stretch last year when the Spartans made a run to the Sweet Sixteen, and came an overtime period away from reaching the Elite Eight.
The senior point guard has improved in every season since his freshman season to become an integral part of the team’s success. He’s also shown the grind in getting into better shape each offseason — all of the intangibles are there, except in perhaps one key area. Izzo continues to challenge Hoggard's leadership when it comes to holding his teammates (and himself) accountable.
When the Spartans get Hoggard back to being himself, and the point guard gets into a consistent rhythm, watch out.
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