Michigan State's Tom Izzo working to manage and motivate AJ Hoggard and Mady Sissoko
East Lansing, Mich. – With Michigan State trying to dig out of a mid-season slump, Spartan head coach Tom Izzo is working to make sure some of his key individuals don’t get stuck in the doldrums.
Junior point guard A.J. Hoggard and junior center Mady Sissoko had strong moments early in the season for Michigan State but haven’t played up to their expectations recently.
Hoggard was one of the few Spartan who played well at Purdue, two games ago, with 20 points and six assists. However, he had five turnovers in the loss to Rutgers on Saturday.
His assist-to-turnover ratio is 11-to-10 over the last four games. Of course, that figure would be higher if teammates helped him out by making more shots.
Hoggard is 15-of-40 from the field over the last four games and 2-of-11 from 3-point range.
“I will say this: Even though I don’t follow social media, but I know that quarterbacks and coaches are always going to get blamed for everything,” Izzo said. “And coaches have to deal with it. When I tell you what I think A.J. has to do a better job of, and I see that he is getting attacked a little bit (on social media) according to my staff, well there’s a reason he plays a lot of minutes. It’s because he is good enough to do it. Do I think sometimes he tries to do too much? Well usually that happens when other people aren’t doing enough.
“Like I tell him, you’re always going to get blamed if you are the quarterback or the coach.
“I think the number of good shots we had in the Rutgers game, we had a chance to be up 10 instead of six at halftime and those make such a big difference in games.”
Izzo is riding with Hoggard.
“He needs to run our team, he needs to get our break going,” Izzo said. “He needs to be a stalwart defensive player.
“The coach and the quarterback get blamed for everything, so maybe A.J. and I are on the same page. We are going to have to right the ship. We are going to meet more often to do that.”
With Sissoko, Michigan State doesn’t need superstardom. It needs consistent, reliable functionality.
Sissoko ranks sixth on the team in scoring at 5.7 points per game and is second in rebounding at 6.6 per game, trailing only Joey Hauser’s 7.3.
Michigan State scripted a screen-and-roll lob to Sissoko to open the Rutgers game, but Hoggard’s pass slipped through Sissoko’s hands. Sissoko has had trouble receiving the ball in screen/roll lob situations a few times this year, which doesn’t help his case for getting more touches.
“That (catching the ball) was a problem earlier in his career,” Izzo said. “In the first half of the season, he did not have a problem with that.”
What’s the problem?
“He has been pressing,” Izzo said. “I wouldn’t say he has great hands but I thought they were much-improved.
“The first play in that game and one late in the game those are the plays he was making against Kentucky and Gonzaga. It doesn’t take many baskets or free throws to change a game when it’s a 1- or 2-point game in the last three minutes.
“It’s not a lack of effort or focus. I think maybe a lack of confidence on his part, or frustration.
“He knows he is not playing as well as he can play, yet he has had some incredibly tough assignments. You’re talking maybe two All-Americans in Trayce Jackson-Davis and Zach Edey. That can be demoralizing for you, to be honest. So we talked to Mady about that and I think you’ll see him getting better again.”
