MSU has won 15-straight games in the series.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball begins the 2023-24 season, hosting Oakland on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. The Robyn Fralick era officially begins on Wednesday, as she was hired as the sixth head women's basketball coach at Michigan State on March 31. Marin Klein and Owen Oszust will be on the call for BTN+.• Michigan State brings back three starters in junior guard DeeDee Hagemann, graduate guard Moira Joiner and junior forward Isaline Alexander. Hagemann is a two-time All-Big Ten honorable mention honoree. Joiner is the top returning scorer for the Spartans, averaging 10.1 ppg as a senior last season.
• This is the 23rd meeting between MSU and Oakland with the Spartans leading the series 19-4. Last season in East Lansing, Michigan State dominated with a 85-39 victory.
• Spartan head coach Robyn Fralick comes to Michigan State after five seasons at Bowling Green State University. Last season, she led the Falcons to the semifinals of the WNIT. Associate head coach Kim Cameron, assistant coaches Kim Kasza, Marwan Miller join Director of Player Development Dean Lockwood and Director of Recruiting Joel Whymer on this year's staff.
• In MSU's exhibition win over Davenport on Nov. 2, five different Spartans reached double figures. Moira Joiner led the way with 18 points, while Abbey Kimball added 16 in her first start.
SCOUTING OAKLAND
Oakland opened the season with a 91-87 double overtime win over Akron on the road on Monday, Nov. 6. Linda Van Schaik led the way with 21 points. She was one of five Grizzlies in double figures. Last season, Oakland ended the season with a 13-17 overall record and were 8-12 in Horizon League action. Brooke Quarles-Daniels led the team in scoring last season, averaging 12.1 points to go along with 5.5 rebounds per game. She also named to the Horizon League Preseason All-League first team.
Head coach Jeff Tungate is in his 11th season at the helm of the Golden Grizzlies. He holds a career record of 130-165.
SERIES HISTORY VS. GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Michigan State leads the all-time series against Oakland 19-4. The Spartans have dominated the series of late, winning the last 15. Three of the last five wins have come in East Lansing. Overall, the Spartans hold and 12-2 advantage at home. The last win for the Golden Grizzlies came on Feb. 9, 1982 with Oakland coming away with a 76-57 victory.
Last season in East Lansing, the Spartans used a balanced attack to dominate the Grizzlies 85-39. Despite the lop-sided win, only one Spartan reached double figures with Gabby Elliott leading the Spartans with 12 points. Nine Spartans scored at least five points with Taiyier Parks, Matilda Ekh, Theryn Hallock and Isaline Alexander all scoring nine points.
FAMILIAR FACE
On the Oakland bench, Michigan State will recognize a face. Sophomore guard Maddy Skorupski transferred to Oakland. Last season, the guard played in five games for the Spartans.
PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST
Michigan State will play seven teams that are ranked in the preseason top 25 polls, led by No. 3/3 Iowa (Jan. 2). At the Cancun Challenge, the Spartans will take on No. 22/23 Creighton. Big Ten teams Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland, Illinois and Michigan are all ranked in at least one of the preseason polls.
LAST TIME OUT
In its only exhibition of the season, the new-look Michigan State women's basketball team had five in double figures en route to a 99-46 win over Davenport Thursday night at the Breslin Center.
MSU first-year head coach Robyn Fralick played 11 of the 13 players on the Spartan roster with all of them scoring and bringing down at least three rebounds.
Graduate guard Moira Joiner led the Spartans in scoring with 18 points, adding three rebounds and four steals, while sophomore guard Abbey Kimball added 16 points. Returning from an ACL injury, senior Gabby Elliott scored 11 points, while sophomore guard Theryn Hallock and junior transfer guard Lauren Ross both added 10 points. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault brought down 11 rebounds for MSU.
MEET THE NEWBIES
MSU introduces five newcomers to the team this season, including three freshmen and two transfers. The three freshmen are guard Bree Robinson (Mississauga, Ontario/Webb School), guard Kennedy Blair (Dearborn, Mich. /Divine Child) and center Mary Meng (Grafton, Ohio/Midview.)
The Spartans also added two transfers to this season's squad. Junior guard Jocelyn Tate comes to MSU from Bowling Green State University, where she averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for the Falcons. Junior guard Lauren Ross has played in the Breslin Center before, transferring from Western Michigan. She was averaging 21.8 ppg for the Broncos before tearing her ACL on Jan. 11, 2023.
HALL OF FAMER
Spartan All-American Tori Jankoska was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 5. Jankoska was a four-time all-state player for Freeland High School from 2010-13 where she scored a Saginaw County record 2,333 career points, also good for No. 9 all-time in the state of Michigan. During her four years at MSU, Jankoska (2013-17) became the program record holder in career points (2,212), field goals made (707), 3-pointers made (320), and finished second in assists (489). She is currently an assistant coach at Virginia.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick has announced guard/forward Julia Ayrault and guard Moira Joiner as team captains, as voted on by the players on the 2023-24 women's basketball team. The duo are the first captains that Michigan State has had since the 2019-20 season, when Victoria Gaines and Taryn McCutcheon were tabbed team leaders.
Ayrault is a guard/forward graduate student from Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. She is in her fifth season with the Spartans after red-shirting the 2021-22 season with a foot injury. Ayrault has played in 77 games at Michigan State, starting 15. Last season, she played in all 30 games, averaging 3.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Joiner is a guard, who is a graduate student from Saginaw, Michigan. She is also in her fifth season with MSU after missing much of the 2021-22 season with concussion symptoms. She has played in 95 games at Michigan State, starting 54. Joiner had a breakout campaign last season averaging 10.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
GUESS WHO'S BACK
Despite losing its top two leading scorers in Kamaria McDaniel (graduation) and Matilda Ekh (transfer), Michigan State welcomes back graduate guard Moira Joiner, who averaged 10.1 ppg last season. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann was fifth on the team in scoring, averaging 9.3 ppg and was sixth in the Big Ten in assists, 4.9 apg averaging apg.
LOOKING AT THE SCHEDULE
For the third-straight season, the conference will play an 18-game Big Ten schedule. MSU also played an 18-game schedule in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. The conference additionally had 18-game schedules in both 2015-16 and 2014-15.
Nine of the Spartans' 2023-24 regular-season opponents competed in the NCAA Tournament last season, including both of Michigan State's opponents in the Cancun Challenge, James Madison and Creighton. From the Big Ten portion of the schedule, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Purdue and Ohio State reached the NCAA Tournament, including the Hawkeyes advancing to the National Championship game.
HEADING SOUTH
The Spartans will play in two tournaments this season. Over Thanksgiving, Michigan State will head to the Cancun Challenge in Mexico to take on James Madison (Nov. 24) and Creighton (Nov. 25). Before breaking for the Holiday break, the Spartans will play in the Cherokee Invitational in Cherokee, North Carolina, facing Richmond (Dec. 20) and either Coastal Carolina or UT-Chattanooga (Dec. 21).
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
