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WATCH: Tom Izzo gets technical foul in ridiculous ugly Christmas sweater

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•12/21/22•

BarkleyTruax

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(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Tom Izzo and Oakland head coach Greg Kampe agreed to wear ugly Christmas sweaters during Michigan State‘s game against the Golden Grizzlies.

The pair went all-out on the ugliness. Here they are in all their glory:

It all stemmed from a Kampe tweet that he sent on social media. The Oakland headman said he’d make the call, and Izzo eventually obliged.

“At Michigan State tonight. Feeling the Christmas spirit,” Kampe wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Does the Izzone have to wear white or can they wear some ugly Christmas gear. I’ll call Izz and see if we can get them in something appropriate for the occasion. Will the Grinch make an appearance?”

Oakland is hanging around Michigan State at halftime, trailing the Spartans 29-24 after ending the half on an 8-0 run. Catch the exciting second half live on the Big Ten Network.

Izzo gets teched in ugly sweater

As if the sweaters weren’t hilarious enough, Izzo received a technical foul for arguing with the refs during Oakland’s run. The Spartans eventually went on a 21-2 run to end the first half and start the second. Michigan State is in full control o the game as the second half wanes.

Tom Izzo goes in-depth on continued development of AJ Hoggard

Michigan State bounced back from two straight losses with two straight wins over Penn State and Brown. In both of those wins, the Spartans saw some impressive play from junior guard AJ Hoggard, who’s shown improvement in multiple areas so far this season, which head coach Tom Izzo spoke about. 

“When AJ is like he’s been in practice, a few times we had one day of prep for this one, he was good. Day of the shoot around he was good, and not that he’s ever been like bad, I can tell a lot more engaged and I appreciate that,” Izzo said.

So far this season through 11 games Hoggard has shown improvement in nearly every aspect of his game compared to last year, increasing his points, assists, and rebounding numbers per game in his larger role.

“I think that’s the greatest thing about coaching, if you can take somebody that doesn’t get it and all of a sudden, as they say, the preverbal lightbulb goes on. If that lightbulb goes on and it can stay on, that’s the work right now, can the lightbulb stay on?” Izzo asked. “But I like the fact that I think we’re having conversations about it and he handled it well when I didn’t start him, but I think I handled it well, because I called him in and told him, I didn’t just bench him, I just called him and told him why.”

Hoggard was in the Spartans’ starting lineup all season until their game versus Northwestern when he came off the bench. And it’s safe to say he learned his lesson and took to his coaching, returning as a starter in their next two contests and scoring a career-high 23 points against Penn State followed by a 17-point outing versus Brown.