This is the first meeting between the teams since 2009.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 20/21 Michigan State women's basketball returns home to take on RV/RV Washington on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. at the Breslin Center. MSU will also celebrate Alumni Day on Sunday, including honoring the 2005 Final Four team. The game will be streamed on B1G+ with Marin Klein and Derrick Mitchell on the call.
• Michigan State is now 12-3 overall and 2-2 in B1G action. The Spartans are 4-2 in games away from home and 1-2 in true road games. Last time out, MSU suffered a 85-80 loss to Nebraska in Lincoln.
• Washington comes to town in the midst of a five-game winning streak. Last time out, the Huskies defeated Wisconsin in Seattle, 79-58 on Jan. 7. UW stands 12-4 overall and are 3-1 in Big Ten action.
• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault netted 21 points for her third 20-point outing of the season, joining back-to-back outings with 22 vs. California (11/26/24) and a season-high 24 vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24). It was Ayrault's eighth career 20-point came of her career and MSU is now 2-1 this season and 5-3 in her career when scoring 20 or more points.
• The Spartans are seventh in the nation and second in the Big Ten in steals per game, averaging 12. spg.
SCOUTING WASHINGTON
Washington comes to the Breslin center winners of five-straight games. They hold a 12-4 overall record and stand 3-1 in Big Ten games. They have Big Ten wins over Wisconsin, Illinois and Northwestern. The Huskies only Big Ten loss came against UCLA in December. MSU and Washington both faced Montana in non-conference action. MSU defeated the Lady Griz 69-38, while UW lost to Montana, 82-68.
Elle Ladine leads the team in scoring and is tied for 13th in the Big Ten, scoring 15.7 ppg. Sayvia Sellers is second in scoring with 15.3 ppg. As a team, the Huskies are fifth in the conference in field goal percentage (.463) and sixth in field goal percentage defense (.375). They are also first in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage (.362).
Washington head coach Tina Langley is in her fourth season as the head coach of the Huskies with a 54-50 record. Overall, she is in her 10th season as a head coach coming from Rice University. Her overall record is 180-111.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE HUSKIES
Washington and Michigan State have a very brief history. The series is tied at 1-1, but the teams haven't met since the 2009 season. In that meeting in East Lansing, the Spartans came out on top 69-52. In the only other meeting between the teams, the Huskies defeated the Spartans 79-57 in 1987 in East Lansing.
LAST TIME VS. WASHINGTON
With Lykendra Johnson setting a rugged example, Michigan State (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 16 AP) smothered Washington early on Dec. 19, 2009.
Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds and the Spartans held the Huskies scoreless for more than 11 minutes in the first half on the way to a 69-52.
Lauren Aitch added 12 points, Porsche Poole and Allyssa DeHaan each had 10 points for the Spartans (8-3), who used an early 17-0 run to pull away from the turnover-plagued Huskies (4-5) for their seventh win in eight games.
BALANCED ATTACK
Six different Spartans have led the team in scoring. Julia Ayrault has led the team in scoring six times, while Grace VanSlooten is second with four. Theryn Hallock has been the leading scorer twice, while Jocelyn Tate, Jaddan Simmons and Juliann Woodard have led once.
RANKED BIG TEN TEAMS
Seven different Big Ten teams are ranked or receiving votes in the AP top 25 poll. UCLA leads the way at No. 1, followed by No. 4 USC, No. 8 Maryland, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 21 Michigan State, No. 23 Iowa and No. 25 Michigan. Minnesota and Washington are also receiving votes in this week's poll.
JOINING THE 1K CLUB
Michigan State currently has four players who have scored at least 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. Most recently junior forward Grace VanSlooten joined the club against Vanderbilt on Nov. 27. She currently has 1,074 career points between Oregon and MSU. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault reached the 1,000-point club against Cal on Nov. 26. During her five years at MSU, she has scored 1,143 points. Graduate guard Nyla Hampton has scored 1,227 points during her time at Bowling Green, Ball State and Michigan State. Fellow graduate guard Jaddan Simmons also has 1,242 points during four seasons at Arizona State her time at MSU. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate is looking to be the next member with 925 points between her two seasons at Bowling Green and two at MSU.
NET RANKINGS
In the current women's basketball NET ranking, the Spartans stand No. 19. They are fourth among Big Ten schools behind No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 USC and No. 12 Ohio State. South Carolina stands No. 1. The Big Ten has five schools in the top 25 in NET rankings.
COMING INTO HER OWN
Freshman forward Inés Sotelo netted a season-high 16 points in her first career start against Purdue on Jan. 1. She topped her previous top scoring outing of 13 points, done twice before, most recently vs. Montana (12/19/24). The 16 points was Sotelo's third double-figure scoring outing of the season, with 13 points vs. Montana (12/19/24) and vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24). Sotelo also tied a season-high with six rebounds, matching her top mark of the year of a half-dozen boards vs. DePaul (12/8/24). So far this season, Sotelo has played in all 14 games, averaging 5.8 ppg.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. NEBRASKA
• Junior guard Theryn Hallock registered double-digits for the fourth time in the last five games with 18 points Wednesday, tying her second-highest scoring outing of the season, behind her top mark of 20 points at Maryland (12/29/24) and matching 18 points vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24. It was the 10th time in the 15 games this season that Hallock scored in double-figures. Hallock logged 10+ points for the 27th time in her career.
• The Spartans made eight 3-pointers while holding the Huskers to five treys, marking the first time that MSU lost when making more 3-pointers, as they are now 8-1 this season when making more behind the arc.
SIMMONS MAKING THE BEST OF HER TIME
Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons distributed a team-high five assists, marking the eighth game this season that Simmons has topped the team in assists, but it was MSU's first loss this season that Simmons has led the Spartans in the assist column and MSU is now 7-1 when she's the top helper distributor. However, it was Simmons' ninth game with three or more helpers as part of her fifth game with five or more assists.
Simmons also led MSU in the steals column with three swipes. It was the Simmons' fifth-straight game with multiple steals, as part of her 11th game this season with two or more swipes. It was her second game in a row with three steals and seventh game with three or more steals.
YOUR STARTING FIVE
Michigan State started the New Year with a new line-up, with graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate and junior guard Theryn Hallock making their regular starts, while freshman center Inés Sotelo made her first career start. That same starting lineup was written in the scorebook at Nebraska on Jan. 8. It was the Spartans' sixth different starting five. Tate is the only MSU player to have started every game this season.
AWESOME AYRAULT
With her 21 points and nine rebounds against Nebraska on Jan. 8, Julia Ayrault continued her recent hot stretch, including averaging 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in her last three games. Over her last 11 games played, Ayrault is now averaging 18.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, with 198 points and 93 rebounds over that span.
AROUND THE BIG TEN
Michigan State is third in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 83.3 points per game, just ahead of Ohio State's 86.2 ppg and USC's 84.1 ppg. MSU is also second in the league in blocks (5.5). MSU is second in steals with 13.8 and second in assists with 18.5 apg. The Spartans are second in turnover margin (+9.1).
Individually, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is 10th in the league in scoring (16.6 ppg). Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons is fifth in the league in steals (2.2 spg).
NO CHARITY
Michigan State's defense made school history, as MSU did not allow Montana to shoot a free throw, as the Lady Griz were 0-for-0 at the free throw line on Dec. 19 with Michigan State only committing 11 fouls, its second-fewest of the season, behind only 10 fouls at Western Michigan (11/17/24).
TATE JOINS THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE CLUB
Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate registered a collegiate career-high tying 19 points, the most of her MSU career and tying her top career mark of 19 points vs. Kent State (3/2/22) against Purdue on Jan. 1. Tate also recorded her first double-double of her Spartan career, adding a game-best and jersey number-matching 11 rebounds. It was Tate's fourth double-double of her collegiate career, with three during her time at Bowling Green. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault logged her second-straight game with a double-double and fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. All five double-doubles this season have come in the last nine games played, and was her 11th career double-double. Overall, Ayrault leads the team with five double-doubles this season.
STINGY SPARTANS
By holding Purdue to three points in the second quarter on Jan. 1, Michigan State's defense has logged at least one single-digit scoring period in 10 of their 15 games this season. The Spartans have stymied the opposition to single-digit scoring in 15 quarters out of the 56 total quarters played through 14 games.
AROUND THE NATION
After 15 games, the Spartans are 19th in the nation scoring margin, winning games by 24.7 points. Michigan State is seventh in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in steals per game with 13.8 apg. MSU is second in the nation in free throws made with 17.9 and 10th in turnover margin (+9.1).
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.
COMEBACK KIDS
MSU's 16-point deficit and rally for win on the Nov. 26 win against Cal was the Spartans' largest comeback win since being down 19 points vs. Penn State on Feb. 22, 2017, rallying from down 46-27 with 7:55 left in the third quarter and rallying for a 73-64 Victory for MSU. In that game, All-American Tori Jankoska was held scoreless in the first half, she rallied with 21 second-half points, for a palindromic double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.
UPDATE THE RECORD BOOKS
With a pair of free throws with 8.4 seconds left against Cal on Nov. 26, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault netted her 21st and 22nd points of the game, reaching the 1,000 career points milestone with the first free throw. Ayrault's 11 points against Purdue on Jan. 1 gives her 1,122 career points, holding the No. 25 spot on MSU's career scoring list, and needs just 11 points to catch Julie Polakowski (1982-86) at No. 24 with 1,143 points.
Ayrault is also third in career blocks with 154. With nine rebounds against Nebraska on Jan. 8, Ayrault now has 638 rebounds for her career, just one
shy of cracking into MSU's Top 20 career rebounding list, as Lil Preston (1980-83) has 639 rebounds at the No. 20 spot. With her two made 3-pointers Wednesday, Ayrault now has 106 for her career, tying former teammate DeeDee Hagemann (2022-24) for No. 18 on MSU's career 3-pointers list with 106 3-pointers.
LOCKED IN DEFENSE
Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons is fifth in the Big Ten in steals with 2.20 spg. Graduate guard Nyla Hampton is seventh in the Big Ten in steals, averaging 2.13 spg. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate is eighth in the B1G with 2.00 spg. The MSU defense has been tough all season. Twice this year the Spartans have tallied 22 steals in a game: against Detroit Mercy on Nov. 20 and against Oakland on Nov. 5. The only team in the Big Ten with more steals in a game is USC with 28 against CSUN on Nov. 12. The Spartans are second in the B1G in steals, averaging 13.8 spg.
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
Michigan State won its second-straight tournament title after winning the Cherokee Invitational in North Carolina last season with wins over Richmond and Coastal Carolina. Prior to that, MSU last tournament crown came at the New Orleans Shootout in 2017.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 20/21 Michigan State women's basketball fell to Nebraska, 85-80 Wednesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Despite a valiant effort, the Spartans weren't able to erase a 17-point second-half deficit.
Michigan State was led by 21 points from graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, which was her third 20-point game of the season. Junior guard Theryn Hallock scored 18 points, while junior forward Grace VanSlooten added 12 points. Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons led Michigan State with three steals and five assists.
Nebraska was led by 28 points and eight rebounds from Alexis Markowski.
BIG TEN OPENERS
MSU won its Big Ten Conference opener, against Iowa and is now 21-22 all-time in B1G openers, having won eight of their last 14. The win against Iowa was the first time that the Spartans opened league play with the Hawkeyes since 2021-22 season, and the win avenged that 88-61 loss. Last season, the Spartans fell to Nebraska at home 80-74 on Dec. 9. During the 2022-23 season, the Spartans fell to Purdue at home 76-71 in overtime. During the 2020-21 season, the Spartans won their opener in Minneapolis, 81-68 over the Gophers.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick has announced guard/forward Julia Ayrault and guard Nyla Hampton as team captains, as voted on by the players on the 2024-25 women's basketball team.
This is Ayrault's second season as a captain for the Spartans. She is the first Spartan to be a captain in back-to-back seasons since Jenna Allen during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Hampton is in her first season with the Spartans, but is familiar with head coach Robyn Fralick. She played three seasons with Bowling Green before transferring to Ball State last season.
VANSLOOTEN NAMED TO WATCH LIST
Michigan State Women's Basketball junior forward Grace VanSlooten was named to the Cheryl Miller Award preseason watch list, as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
She is one of five Big Ten players on the list along with Indiana's Yarden Garzon, Maryland's Saylor Poffenbarger, Ohio State's Cotie McMahon and UCLA's Angela Dugalić. The award honors the nation's top small forwards.
WELCOME TO SPARTAN NATION
Michigan State women's basketball head coach Robyn Fralick announced the signing of three signees on Wednesday, including Jordan Ode (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove High School), Anna Terrian (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee High School) and Amy Terrian (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee High School).
Ode is a 6-0 guard, who is a native of Maple Grove, Minn. She attends Maple Grove High School and is coached by Mark Cook. Ode is currently ranked No. 33 in the ESPNW HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.
Anna Terrian is a 5-8 guard, who is a native of Pewaukee, Wis., and plays for head coach Jim Reuter at Pewaukee High School. As a junior, she averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Amy Terrian is a 5-8 guard, who is a native of Pewaukee, Wis., plays for head coach Jim Reuter at Pewaukee High School. Terrian is currently ranked No. 89 in the ESPNW HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings. As a junior, she averaged 18.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
