Michigan
Five Takeaways: A.J. Hoggard lifts Michigan State in road victory over Penn State
![Five Takeaways: A.J. Hoggard lifts Michigan State in road victory over Penn State](https://www.si.com/.image/ar_16:9,c_fill,cs_srgb,fl_progressive,g_xy_center,q_auto:good,w_620,x_756,y_399/MTk0Mjg3MDk4NDU3NDk5MzEz/usatsi_19582129_168388427_lowres.jpg)
Off back-to-back losses, Michigan State confronted a tricky check on the street in opposition to Penn State on Wednesday night time.
The Nittany Lions got here in because the Massive Ten Convention’s chief in three-point taking pictures, however the Spartans defended the perimeter properly and junior level guard A.J. Hoggard led Michigan State to a 67-58 win.
With this victory, the Spartans enhance to 6-4 general and 1-1 in Massive Ten play. This is what stood out from an necessary victory for MSU:
1.) A.J. Hoggard reveals out in house state
A local of Pennsylvania, A.J. Hoggard placed on a present in his house state on Wednesday night time. The junior level guard completed with a career-high 23 factors on 8-of-16 taking pictures, whereas including six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
I’ve mentioned it earlier than, however Michigan State goes as Hoggard goes. If the Spartans can get wholesome and Hoggard performs properly, this is among the higher groups within the Massive Ten Convention. MSU does not want its level guard to attain 23 factors every night time, however they want Hoggard to make the precise choices with the basketball. He did that tonight, and the Spartans got here out victorious.
2.) Double-double for Joey Hauser
It has been actually outstanding seeing how rather more comfy Joey Hauser is that this season. The fifth-year senior has shot the ball a lot better this season, and has been the Spartans’ greatest rebounder as properly.
Tonight, Hauser recorded a double-double tonight with 12 factors and 15 rebounds, and added three assists and a blocked shot. The senior did not stretch the ground like we have seen him do typically this 12 months, going 0-for-2 from the three level line, however that did not sink his recreation.
Hauser can wrestle to defend at occasions, particularly now with Malik Corridor out of the lineup, however he is making up for that in different areas.
3.) Spartans reduce down on turnovers
All through the final two seasons, we mentioned Michigan State’s turnover woes advert nauseam. However the Spartans have achieved a a lot better job of caring for the basketball to this point this season.
Scroll to Proceed
Possibly that comes from having a veteran level guard now in Hoggard. The junior nonetheless makes some head-scratching choices with the ball, however these have come much less regularly in 2022-23.
Michigan State had 13 turnovers within the loss to Northwestern, however reduce that quantity right down to 9 giveaways tonight. That does not sound like a lot of a distinction, however in shut video games on the street in convention play, each possession is significant.
4.) Jaxon Kohler performs massive function in 1st half
Beginning middle Mady Sissoko as soon as once more discovered himself in foul bother early on this one, and that pressured head coach Tom Izzo to show to his true freshman massive man Jaxon Kohler to play prolonged minutes within the first half.
Kohler took benefit of the chance, and Penn State’s lack of measurement on the inside, to show in an excellent first half for the Spartans. The freshman scored all six of his factors within the opening 20 minutes, and added an help on a kick out to Jaden Akins for a three-pointer.
Kohler must proceed to work on his conditioning and protection, however we have seen flashes of what made the freshman a four-star prospect popping out of highschool. He offered an offensive elevate for MSU within the first half tonight when the Spartans wanted it.
5.) Spartans lock in on protection
We talked about above that Penn State entered this recreation as the highest three-point taking pictures group within the Massive Ten to this point this season. Izzo and the Spartans actually knew that coming in to tonight’s recreation, they usually locked up the Nittany Lions all through the night time.
Michigan State restricted Penn State to only 8-of-27 from past the three-point line on this one, and the Nittany Lions shot simply 35 p.c from the ground. The Spartans additionally restricted Penn State to only one shot via a lot of the night time, surrendering solely 5 offensive rebounds for 2 second-chance factors.
Izzo bought the defensive efficiency that he was on the lookout for on an evening by which Michigan State actually wanted it.
Up Subsequent
Michigan State will get some much-needed reduction to its schedule for the remainder of the month. The Spartans will play simply three extra video games in 2022, all at house, in opposition to Brown, Oakland and Buffalo.
That can give MSU the chance to relaxation up and hopefully get Malik Corridor prepared for the restart to Massive Ten play in 2023. After all, Michigan State might be nonetheless kicking itself for letting a house recreation in opposition to Northwestern get away, however with tonight’s street win at Penn State the Spartans keep away from an early gap to begin convention play.
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Michigan
While Michigan was sleeping, a budget was unveiled, passed – City Pulse
![While Michigan was sleeping, a budget was unveiled, passed – City Pulse](https://alpha.creativecirclecdn.com/citypulse/original/20220914-183917-KyleMelinn2%20copy.jpg)
By Kyle Melinn
You might not have caught the irony of the Michigan Senate passing a proclaimed expansion of the state’s open record law the same night it passed the most secretive budget in modern history, but I did.
Last week, the Senate spiked the football on bills (which aren’t going anywhere in the state House) that would create a bureaucracy designed to reject or heavily redact whatever open records request you might have for the state Legislature or the governor.
Today, you can request financial documents from the House and Senate under their internal rules but little else. Under these bills, you will be able to request financial documents from the Legislature, but not much more outside of a legislator’s public calendar.
Don’t fret over the feeble expansion, though. House members won’t pass it anyway. They have re-elections to win.
I only mention it because it creates the aforementioned irony: The same Senate stayed up until 5 a.m. to pass an $82.5 billion state budget for Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2025, that literally nobody with a normal sleep pattern read.
That’s because 1,519 pages of spending didn’t become a public document until five minutes after midnight June 27. At 12:05 a.m, a just-for-show committee met to unveil a public spending measure crafted with literally as much openness as the old redistricting process.
The committee’s clerk, when asked to explain what were in these 1,519 pages, said, “Due to the lateness of the hour, I’m going to keep this brief.” He proceeded to utter a couple of numbers to a room of about 10 people. A motion was made to pass the document. A vote was taken. The chair pounded the gavel.
Mid-Michigan legislators Angela Witwer and Sarah Anthony, who spent the last few months concocting the whole thing with the governor’s budget office, a few other lawmakers and a bunch of staff scattered before too many questions were asked.
Between 12:05 a.m. and 5 a.m., the full House and Senate passed the budget with light debate. One of the Legislature’s 72 Republicans voted for it.
Viola! A “bipartisan” budget was passed! While you were sleeping, no less!
There was no need to look at the spending analyses because unless you’re a nocturnal creature with the sleep habits of a possum, you couldn’t have read it anyway.
That’s your state government working for you in 2024.
Between January and June this year, House Speaker Joe Tate was a broken record on the chamber’s only priority for 2024: the budget. Tate talked of little else. Last year, the House passed a budget, too, along with a truckload of other policy priorities. This year, it was only the budget.
There wasn’t anything special about this year’s budget. The Constitution requires it, just like the calendar requires Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.
Michigan government didn’t have a bunch of extra money, nor was the state broke. The only difference is 2024 is this is an election year, and year and Democrats will struggle to keep a majority 56 House seats, especially with a barely functional 81-year-old as their presidential nominee.
So, to recap, the House unveiled and passed its professed No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 priorities for the ENTIRE YEAR while most normal human beings were asleep.
More commotion might have been made over this example of bad government had the budget been terribly interesting, but it wasn’t.
Back in February, the governor said she wanted:
— A 2.5% foundation allowance increase to public schools.
— Universal 4-year-old preschool.
— $1,000 rebates for all new automobiles purchased
— a Family Caregiver Tax credit of $5,000.
She got none of the above.
Instead, she got the schools and teachers paying less into their retirement, which the school community panned because the reductions weren’t made permanent.
She also got a few hundred thousand dollars left on the balance sheet she can spend this fall on presumed economic development projects.
Don’t ask which ones. We’ll all find out after the deal is cut and bills are passed.
During daylight hours, if we’re lucky.
(Email Kyle Melinn of the Capitol news service MIRS at melinnky@gmail.com.)
Michigan
August Primary: Democrats face an uncertain choice in Michigan's 8th Congressional District primary
![August Primary: Democrats face an uncertain choice in Michigan's 8th Congressional District primary](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/95fcce5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1250x656+0+4/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffb%2F23%2F8c71653f49ecb76dfc00d8c701f4%2F8th-district-dems-update.png)
Michigan voters have already started casting ballots ahead of the August primary.
Perhaps the biggest contest on the ballot is the Democratic race in the 8th Congressional District.
Last November, incumbent Democratic congressman Dan Kildee surprised many when he announced he would not seek re-election in 2024.
The decision marked the end of decades of Kildee family control of the mid-Michigan congressional seat, and possibly along with it, a half century of Democratic control of the seat representing Flint.
The 8th District, which stretches from Democratic strongholds in Genesee County to solidly Republican Midland County, is seen as a toss-up.
Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Public
“Hi everybody. Welcome, please feel free to gather round,” a speaker told a small crowd gathered last month on the Saginaw County courthouse lawn to mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
At the rally, State Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) related the importance of the 8th district race to the abortion debate.
“In this toss-up U.S. House race, we have pro-choice Democrats running against anti-abortion extremists. Period. That is the choice that’s on the ballot,” McDonald Rivet told the pro-choice crowd.
McDonald Rivet is one of three candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in the 8th Congressional primary. The others are state Board of Education president Pamela Pugh and former Flint Mayor Matt Collier.
While each candidate placed reproductive rights as a top issue in November, McDonald Rivet sees the economy as the key issue in the Democratic Party primary.
“We have to talk about our fundamental rights. We have to talk about gun violence,” said McDonald Rivet, “But people really want folks who are going to roll up their sleeves and figure out how to make it easier to live in the middle class.”
Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Public
McDonald Rivet says congress needs to do more to address the cost of housing, saving for retirement and paying for prescription drugs.
Pamela Pugh announced her plans for the 2024 election early in 2023. But at the time, Pugh’s plan was to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow. But plans change. After Kildee’s retirement announcement, Pugh switched her campaign to the 8th district.
Sitting in a Saginaw coffee shop, Pugh discussed what she sees as the top priority in the 8th district Democratic primary.
“Economy, economy, economy.” Pugh said, “It doesn’t matter what neighborhood you’re in. It doesn’t matter what sector I’m talking to. It is about the economy.”
Pugh contends “economic dignity for all” and a family sustaining wage are essential to a good quality of life. She cites investing in education as key to addressing the economy.
Pugh and McDonald Rivet both currently serve in high profile elected offices.
For Matt Collier, it’s been nearly 40 years since he was elected Flint’s youngest mayor back in the 1980s. Since then, the West Point grad has worked in the private sector, as well as the Obama administration.
“My story starts here on the ice in Flint, where you learn how to pick yourself up when life knocks you down,” Collier said in his first TV campaign commercial, showing him playing hockey at a local ice rink.
Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Public
Sitting in a Flint diner, Collier said keeping the seat, long-held by Dale and Dan Kildee, Democratic is important.
“There’s pressure — but not because of the Kildee family — more because on the Democratic side to retain the seat for this country, for the sanity of this country,” said Collier.
The former mayor said political divisions in Washington has resulted in the current session of Congress being one of the least productive in U.S. History.
Paul Rozycki is a retired political science professor at Mott Community College. The longtime observer of Flint regional politics says the August primary winner may face a significant challenge keeping the eighth district in the Democratic column in November.
“I have a hunch that in many ways you could take a look at the 8th District and see it as a mirror of some of the dissatisfaction that’s rumbling across a lot of the country in the last almost eight years,” said Rozycki.
Rozycki expects the 8th district will be the most competitive race in Michigan this fall.
Michigan
Former Michigan State forward re-signs with NBA champion Boston Celtics
![Former Michigan State forward re-signs with NBA champion Boston Celtics](https://www.mlive.com/resizer/v2/TXOZJYDK2BDU3M7GYIQJOXIALY.jpg?auth=c69ad8835b794b1a2934d50f7e572f5515f0dadcbb6b05f2d56065da6ed80010&width=1280&quality=90)
Two weeks after winning an NBA title, Xavier Tillman has signed on to stay with the Boston Celtics.
Tillman, the Grand Rapids native and former Michigan State player, signed a two-year contract to return to the Celtics, according to ESPN.
The Boston Globe reported that the contract will be for a veteran’s minimum salary, approximately $2.2 million per year, and is fully guaranteed.
Tillman joined the Celtics in a midseason trade from the Memphis Grizzlies; he averaged 5.3 points and 3.9 rebounds over the course of the season.
He played sparingly in the playoffs but saw 11 minutes of action in Game 3 of the NBA finals, recording three points, four rebounds and two blocks in a Celtics win.
Tillman has now played four NBA seasons since being a second-round pick out of Michigan State in 2020.
Tillman is the second former Michigan State to sign since NBA free agency opened on Monday; Gary Harris signed a two-year contract with the Orlando Magic.
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