Micah Shrewsberry admits he, A.J. Hoggard exchanged words in-game

During the Michigan State win over Penn State, Nittany Lions head coach Micah Shrewsberry exchanged words with AJ Hoggard. The problem there is that Hoggard plays for the Spartans. This led to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo speaking directly with Shrewsberry during the game.

In his postgame press conference, Micah Shrewsberry was asked about the moment. However, Shrewsberry downplayed it.

“That was me and Hoggard going after it,” Micah Shrewsberry admitted. “I’m a competitor. I know he is too, right? So, we, you know, were yelling at each other on the sidelines.”

Micah Shrewsberry explained that he loved the competition and that he didn’t see it as an issue. He even told Tom Izzo, who tried to apologize, that they were just competing.

“I love it. That’s why I went to him right after that. I yelled at him out of the timeout. Hey, love it. Love that kid man. Love how he competes. So, Coach Izzo was like, he was apologizing to me because he [Hoggard] had said something to me, and I told him no. Like, we were just competing, right? Like, that’s it,” Micah Shrewsberry said.

“I’ve got so much respect for the guys in this league, and how they go about their business. Like, I know how good that kid is. I know he’s a fighter. That’s who he is. So, I’ve loved competing against him. I’ve had a chance to go against him now for a bunch of years in a row. That was like I’ve got so much respect for Coach and his program, but I’ve got a lot of respect for that kid too.”

Micah Shrewsberry continued to downplay the incident as a moment of competition against someone and a program he has tons of respect for. He also said that it was fun.

“I love that part of the game, man. I wasn’t a very good player, but I was a player at one point in time, and sometimes that player comes out.”

Tom Izzo explained his mid-game handshake with Micah Shrewsberry

After the game, Tom Izzo was also asked about going to talk to Micah Shrewsberry in the middle of the game. It ended with a handshake, but there was still the question of why it happened at all.

“Yeah I thought one of my guys said something to him and I just told him if that happened I’m sorry, and he said hey not at all,” Izzo said.

“He’s a class guy, I’m telling you, you guys are lucky to have him because he’s gonna do a hell of a job here. But yeah you know there’s a few of us coaches that still get along and won’t fight over the NIL and the transfer portal. Us two aren’t fighting over that, trying to rob each other’s players or anything.”