Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout Stony Brook win

Another night, another blowout win for the newly-energized Michigan State basketball team that seems to have taken that Baylor blowout win from last weekend and built on it.

The Spartans dominated Stony Brook from the get-go, racing out to a big lead, taking a 48-12 advantage into the halftime locker room. All they did from that point on was build on the lead and they ended up winning 99-55.

This was the third straight blowout win for Michigan State, improving the Spartans to 7-5 on the season and it feels like this team is turning a corner.

What did we learn from this one?

3. AJ Hoggard is taking control

Tom Izzo talked to the media after the game about a text that he sent AJ Hoggard the night before the game in which he talked about big upsets happening around college basketball and his senior point guard responded with something along the lines of "We'll be ready to play."

That was a huge sign for Izzo that Hoggard is realizing that he's a leader and needs to act like one

And he did. He finished with 12 points and 10 assists and he only turned the ball over two times. He looked like the player we saw in the NCAA Tournament last season and when he's on his game, there aren't many guards in the Big Ten -- or even the nation -- who can slow him down.

After a slow start to the season, Hoggard has been turning it on as of late and he looks like a true star in the green and white and a leader who is taking things seriously.

AJ is back.