REHASH & ANALYSIS: Hoggard's heroics not enough, Tennessee escapes with 89-88 exhibition win over Michigan State

East Lansing, Mich. – AJ Hoggard’s last-second three-pointer was not enough to push No. 4 Michigan State past No. 9 Tennessee Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center, as the Vols escaped with a 89-88 point exhibition win after Spartan guard Tre Holloman fouled Jordan Gainey late to set up a pair of free throws. 

The game appeared to be over when Tyson Walker missed both of his free throws down three with :15 seconds left. But four seconds later, after Jahmai Mashack increased Tennessee’s lead to five with a pair of free throws, Hoggard made both of his attempts to cut Tennessee’s lead to 88-85.

Walker proceeded to steal Josiah Jordan-James’ inbounds pass by diving on the floor and wrestling for the ball. Walker managed to kick the ball out to an open Hoggard at the top of the key, and Hoggard nailed a three-pointer to tie the game at 88 with :05 seconds to play. 

Moments later, Holloman was called for a foul on Gainey’s desperation jumper with :01 second left. Gainey split the pair, and Hoggard threw the inbounds pass into Jonas Aidoo’s hands near halfcourt to end the game. 

A total of 54 fouls were called on the two teams in what had to be one of the most physical and intense exhibition games ever played. Some of the fouls frustrated Spartan head coach Tom Izzo and the Michigan State bench, but the Spartans pushed Tennessee all the way to the end. 

Ultimately, the hard-fought contest won’t count in the official record books for either team. Originally scheduled as a closed scrimmage, Izzo and Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes agreed to open the game to the public in order to raise money for those affected by the wildfires in Maui. 

“Most important – and that’s why we did it – I hope it does light on the people from Maui,” Izzo said. “When something happens there and all of a sudden something happens in Russia and then something happens in Israel, it seems like it goes by the wayside a little bit. Maui, I’ve been there, next year will be my fifth time. I think Rick, this year will be his fourth time. So it meant a lot to both of us becuase when you go there you get treated so well. I thought our people here did a great job. It was a phenomenal crowd.”

Michigan State will officially open the season on Nov. 6 against James Madison. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED I

A Jaden Akins three-pointer from the wing cut Tennessee’s lead to 83-79 with 1:33 to play. Malik Hall hustled for a second-chance rebound on Michigan State’s next possession, which led to Hoggard’s drive to the basket. Hoggard was fouled on the play and made both free throws to cut the lead to 83-81 with :41 to play. 

Michigan State forced a Tennessee timeout on the subsequent inbound pass. After the timeout, Hall fouled Aidoo while trying to deny the entry pass. Aidoo split the pair to put Tennessee up by three. 

Walker finished a layup on the other end, cutting Tennessee’s lead to one, 84-83, with :24 to play. Akins fouled Dalton Knecht on the other end to stop the clock, and Knecht made both free throws to put the Vols up 86-83. 

In what appeared to be Michigan State’s last chance to tie or take the lead, Walker drove to the basket and drew a foul. Walker, however, missed both free throws, and Mashack extended the Tennessee lead to five on the other end by hitting a pair of his own. 

Hoggard, however, drew a foul and hit both of his free throws to set up the late-game dramatics. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED II

Walker made up for a quiet start by scoring 11 points over the last five minutes of the game. His three-pointer with 5:12 to play cut Tennessee’s lead to 77-72. 

Walker finished an easy layup on the next Michigan State possession. Sissoko then skied for a rebound over two Tennessee defenders following Gainey’s missed three and kicked it to Walker down the court. Walker dribbled up in transition, isolated his defender and hit a smooth step-back jumper to cut Tennessee’s lead to 77-76 with 4:03 to play. 

Walker, however, was too small to deny Mashack in the post late in the subsequent Tennessee possession. Tennessee proceeded to go on a 6-0 run, spearheaded by a pair of free throws.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Walker led the Spartans in scoring with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting (4-of-8 from three).

Hall scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to record a double-double. Hoggard also scored 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting.

“As well as Tyson played, Malik Hall – he missed three layups – but he did the things, though, that I needed to be done from him. Gets a double-double, gets 14 and 11, gets to the free throw line. I thought he played pretty well.

“And Tyson, we have to do a better job of getting him involved earlier,” Izzo said. “We had somme guys that just over-dribbled, over-handled it early and the ball movement wasn’t as good and that’s because they’re really good defensively.”

Carr provided an athletic spark off the bench in the second half. He finished the game with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting to go along with four rebounds.

The Spartans finished 17 turnovers and 16 fouls. Tennessee, meanwhile, turned the ball over 20 times and fouled Michigan State 28 times.

“The turnovers were a joke,” Izzo said. “There’s were worse, so Rick’s not real happy, either. But our turnovers led to some touchdowns that they got early.”

Knecht finished as Tennessee’s leading scorer with 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting (3-of-9 from three). Gainey scored 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting (4-of-7 from three).

“Those two guys – the new guys he got – really played well, Gainey and Knecht,” Izzo said. “They really, really, really played well, and that was the difference in the game.”

Mashack collected his fifth foul with 19:18 to play, but he did not foul out of the game; players are not limited to five fouls in exhibition contests. He finished with seven fouls.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Walker’s three-pointer with 18:09 to play gave Michigan State its first lead of the game, 45-44. But much like the first half, Tennessee used a pair of Michigan State turnovers to ignite its offense and take a double-digit lead over the Spartans. 

Following Walker’s three, Mashack and Knecht led Tennessee on a 10-2 run over the next 2:40. All of a sudden, Michigan State trailed, 57-46, with 15:02 to play. 

The intensity of the game hit a high point when Holloman and Tennessee’s Freddie Dilione were each assessed a technical foul after fighting for the ball following Dilione’s travel with 13:23 to play. Dilione remained in the game for Tennessee, while Izzo ripped Holloman on the bench. 

Michigan State fought back into the game following Walker’s alley-oop pass to Carr, who finished the play with an emphatic dunk on the baseline with 12:33 to play. That cut Tennessee’s lead to six, 59-53.

On the next play down the court, Carr skied for a block on Dilione, which caused the Breslin Center crowd to erupt. Izzo punched the air with excitement. Dilione, however, responded with a second-chance three-pointer to extend Tennessee’s lead to 62-53 with 12:14 to play. 

“Everytime we cut it to six or four, they made a play,” Izzo said. “I told Rick, that was my most impressive thing with them.”

FIRST HALF

Tennessee raced out to an early 17-1 lead over Michigan State thanks to five Spartan turnovers in the first three minutes of the game.

“That was a depressing moment when you get down 17-1,” Izzo said. “I guess my team deserves some credit for coming back from that.”

Sissoko accounted for two of those turnovers. He had the ball stolen from his hands at the 17:57 mark while standing on the perimeter waiting for a play to develop. Two Michigan State possessions later, Gainey stole the ball from Sissoko on a dribble handoff. 

Izzo used his first timeout of the game after that turnover, at the 16:55 mark, with Michigan State down 9-0. Tennessee hit tough shot after tough shot early in the first half, while the Spartans couldn’t get anything going on offense. 

Sissoko did have a strong putback attempt after the timeout. Sissoko gathered Walker’s alley-oop pass, took one dribble and went up strong to draw a foul. He split the pair to give Michigan State its first point of the game at the 16:40 mark. 

Cooper replaced Sissoko with 15:47 to play and moved his feet well on defense. The Spartans began chipping away with Cooper in the game, narrowly outscording the Vols 6-5 over a three minute run, starting at the 15:16 mark. 

Hall and Cooper both showed patience on back-to-back post hooks for Michigan State, which cut the Tennessee lead to 17-5 with 14:54 to play in the half. 

Although Michigan State struggled to match Tennessee’s physicality in the early-going, the pace of the game slowed a bit as Michigan State continued to press Tennessee’s guards and Michigan State got more comfortable on offense. 

After several minutes of back-and-forth basketball, Michigan State forced a Tennessee timeout on an Akins fast-break layup to cut the Volunteers’ lead to 33-22 with 6:38 to play. That score capped an 8-3 Michigan State run. 

Tennessee immediately responded when Gainey found a wide-open Knecht underneath the basket. Booker, who was playing the five, and Carr, who was at the four, lost track of Knecht and provided Tennessee with an easy basket.

From there, Michigan State ended the half on a 12-5 run, including a 7-1 run over the last 3:43. Hall scored five of Michigan State’s seven points during that span. 

Izzo said before the season that he wanted to get more out of Hall. After a quiet performance against Hillsdale, Hall demonstrated a greater willingness to get to his spots. Hall shot just 3-of-7 in the first half, but walked into the locker room as Michigan State’s leading scorer with nine points. 

Hall hesitated to shoot his one three-point attempt of the half, with 13:27 to play, and missed it short. After that, Hall chose to operate primarily out of the post. Hall went 3-of-4 from the free throw line and corralled four rebounds in the first half.

Tennessee took a 40-37 lead into halftime. The Vols hit a plethora of tough shots to finish the first half with a team shooting percentage of 51.9 percent (58.3 percent from three). Michigan State finished the half shooting 41.4 percent from the floor (50 percent from three). 

Gainey finished with 15 first-half points for the Vols, while Knecht scored 14. 

Tennessee outrebounded the Spartans, 19-17, in the first half.