Michigan State improves to 4-1 on the season with a 83-75 win over Samford Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs gave the Spartans a scare, but Jaden Akins career night proved too much for the visitors. Full recap by @luccamazzie:

The Spartans and the Titans have met 32 times.​

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball returns home to take on Detroit Mercy on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. This will be the Spartans' final home game of the month of November. Matt Merrifield and Derrick Mitchell will be on the call for B1G+.

• MSU has opened 5-0 for the second time in as many seasons under head coach Robyn Fralick. Michigan State also started 5-0 for the third-straight season since a 4-1 start to open the 2021-22 season.

• Detroit Mercy has had a fast start to the season, standing 2-0. They have wins against Coach Fralick's former squad Bowling Green and Bellarmine. The game against the Spartans is the Titans first road game for the season for Detroit Mercy.

• The Spartans have three players averaging in double figures led by junior forward Grace VanSlooten, who is averaging 16.8 ppg. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is second in scoring with 13.6 ppg, while junior guard Theryn Hallock is third with 13.2 ppg.

• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault both registered double-doubles against WMU on Nov. 17, with VanSlooten tallying game-highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Ayrault added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY
The Titans are off to a fast start with a pair of home wins. They opened the season against head coach Kate Achter's former team Bowling Green, earning a 73-66 win. UDM also defeated Bellarmine 73-71 on Nov. 16.

Myonna Hooper is one of three players averaging in double figures, leading the team with 20.0 ppg. Aaliyah McQueen is second in scoring with 16.0 ppg, while Emaia O'Brien is third with 11.5 ppg. The Titans are scoring 73.0 ppg, while allowing only 68.5 ppg.

Kate Achter is in her third season as the head coach at Detroit Mercy. She holds a career record of 91-151 in nine seasons. Achter was an All-American basketball player at Bowling Green and has also coached at Loyola Chicago, St. Bonaventure and Xavier.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE TITANS
Michigan State leads the overall series with Detroit Mercy, 25-7. The Spartans have won the last 20 games in the series, leading 19-1 in East Lansing. MSU holds a 6-5 record in Detroit, while Detroit Mercy has won the only meeting in neutral territory. In 1994, the Titans topped the Spartans, 75-70 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was Detroit Mercy's last victory against MSU. Early in the series, it was all Titans with Detroit Mercy earning the first three games in the series in 1979.

Eight of the last nine meetings have taken place at the Breslin Center.

LAST TIME AGAINST DETROIT MERCY
A record setting night from the field helped the Michigan State women's basketball team dominate Detroit Mercy 105-44 on Nov. 16 at the Breslin Center.

Shooting 70.9 percent from the field (39-for-55), the Spartans broke the school record for field goal percentage in a game set in 1986 against Bowling Green. In that game MSU shot 67.2 percent (45-for-67) against Bowling Green on Dec. 23, 1986. The Spartans also tied school record for assists with 34.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
When graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault and junior forward Grace VanSlooten both recorded double-doubles against Western Michigan on Nov. 17, it was the first time since Dec. 17, 2023 against CMU. In that game, Ayrault had 13 points and 10 assists, while Theryn Hallock had 17 points and 12 assists. The last time that two Spartans reached double figures in rebounds was on Jan. 23, 2022, when Tamara Farquhar had 11 and Alisia Smith added 10 against Minnesota.

BY THE NUMBERS VS. WMU
• By holding Western Michigan to 42 points on Sunday, Michigan State tied its season-low for fewest points allowed, and both have come against in-state opponents, matching holding Oakland to 42 points in the season-opener on Nov. 5. MSU's defense limited the opposition under 50 points for the fourth time in the five games this season.

• With the 15 points, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault has tallied double-figures in all five games this season and in 18 games in a row as part of in 29 of her last 34 games played since the start of the 2023-24 season. Overall, Ayrault logged her 43rd career game in double-figures.

CLOSING IN ON 1,000
Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault netted 15 points on Nov. 17 at Western Michigan, as she has recorded double-figures in all five contests this season and in 18-straight games and 29 of her last 34 ballgames played since the start of the 2023-24 season. Ayrault's 15 points gives her 979 career points, only 21 points away from becoming the 31st Spartan women's basketball player to score 1,000 points in her MSU career.

Junior forward Grace VanSlooten is also approaching the 1,000-point mark in just three seasons. She has 954 career points between her two years at Oregon and her time at Michigan State.

BRINGING THE BOOM
For the 2024-25 season, Michigan State women's introduced its new student section - the Breslin Boom. First introduced by Coach Fralick at Michigan State Madness, Spartan students will be encouraged to yell "BOOM" on any big MSU plays.

STINGY DEFENSE
The Spartan defense held the opposition to single-digit scoring in at least one quarter for the fifth-straight game by corralling the Broncos to eight points in the first quarter and nine points in the fourth quarter. Overall, MSU has limited opponents to single digits in eight quarters, as part of holding opponents to 10 or less points in half of the total quarters with 10 total quarters in allowing 10 points or less.Sunday was the third game out of the five in which MSU's defense held the opponent to multiple quarters with single-digit scoring.

WOODARD WOWS
Freshman guard Juliann Woodard brought the Breslin faithful to their feet with her fourth-quarter antics against EKU on Nov. 14. She doubled her previous season-high of eight points vs. Oakland (11/5/24) just in 3-pointers, making 4-of-4 and adding one field goal inside the arc to continue unblemished shooting night with a 2-of-2 outing at the free throw line for 16 points in just the final 6:31, an average of 2.5 points per minute, and all in the fourth quarter.

PUTTING UP THE POINTS
Michigan State netted 95+ points for the four-straight games to start the season after scoring 96 points on Nov. 14 vs. EKU after 107 in the season season-opener vs. Oakland on Nov. 5, 100 points vs. Yale on Nov. 8 and 95 points last time out vs. Eastern Michigan on Nov. 11. It marks the first time since the 2017-18 season that MSU has scored 95+ points in its first fourth games when the Spartans matched this year's scoring through the first three games with 100 points in the season-opener (100-58 vs. Robert Morris on 11/11/17), 95 in game two (95-63 vs. Oakland on 11/13/17) and 107 in game three (107-43 vs. Charleston), before posting 97 in game four (11/21/17).

NUMBERS DON'T LIE
When Julia Ayrault and Jocelyn Tate reach double figures, the numbers don't lie. This season, MSU is 5-0 when Ayrault reaches double figures in scoring. She has reached double figures 45 times for her career and the Spartans are 34-11 in those games. Michigan State is 2-0 this year when Tate reaches double figures. For her MSU career, the Spartans are 7-1 in the eight games she has reached double digits in scoring.

AROUND THE BIG TEN
Michigan State is first in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 95.4 points per game, just ahead of Penn State's 94.4 ppg. The Spartans are also tied for first in the league in scoring defense, allowing only 46.2 ppg. MSU is also tied for second in the league in assists with 22.8 apg and are second in assist/turnover ratio (1.78). The Spartans are also first in turnover margin, forcing +14.4 per game.

AROUND THE NATION
After just five games, the Spartans are fifth in the nation and second in the Big Ten in assists per game, averaging 22.8 apg. MSU is also eighth in bench points with 39.4 per game. Michigan State stands fourth and first in the Big Ten in scoring margin, winning games by 49.2 ppg.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.