Michigan State looks for its first win in Lincoln.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 20/21 Michigan State women's basketball hits the road to take on Nebraska on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. ET at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The game will be streamed on B1G+ with Larry Punteney and Kara Graham on the call.
• Last time out, the Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak with a dominate 77-59 win over Purdue at home on Jan. 1. With the win, Michigan State improves to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten contests. The Spartans are fourth in the B1G in scoring offense (83.6) and fifth in scoring defense (56.8).
• With a 72-61 win over Penn State, Nebraska stopped a three-game losing streak. The Cornhuskers are 11-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.
• Michigan State's defense forced 25 Purdue turnovers, as the Spartan defense notched 25+ turnovers by the opposition for the fourth-consecutive game, following 25 by Maryland last time out (12/29/24), along with 29 vs. Alabama (12/20/24) and 30 vs. Montana (12/19/24) in back-to-back days. Overall, it was MSU's ninth contest this season in forcing 25+ turnovers.
• Six different Spartans have led the team in scoring. Julia Ayrault has been on top in scoring five 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.
SCOUTING NEBRASKA
Nebraska broke a three-game losing streak with a 72-61 win over Penn State on Sunday. All three teams that Nebraska lost during the skid were ranked in No. 17 Georgia Tech, No. 1 UCLA and No. 4 USC. The Huskers are 11-4 overall and 2-2 in Big Ten action with the win.
The Huskers are first in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage (.370). They are also seventh in assists with 17.8 apg. Individually, Alexis Markowski leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.6 ppg. She is also 13th in rebounds, averaging 7.9 rpg. Nebraska lost leading scorer Natalie Potts to an ACL tear earlier in the season. She played in five games, averaging 14.4 ppg.
Nebraska head coach Amy Williams is in her ninth season as the head coach of the Cornhuskers with a 148-151 record. Overall, she is in her 18th season as a head coach with stops at Rogers State and South Dakota. Her overall record is 341-224.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE CORNHUSKERS
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Michigan State, 12-6. The Spartans are looking to snap a two-game losing streak against the Huskers. Last season, Nebraska came out on top in East Lansing on Dec. 9, 80-74. The two teams met again in the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis on March 2 with Nebraska earning the 73-61 win. The Spartans are looking for their first-ever win in Lincoln with the Huskers on top at home 6-0 at home. In East Lansing, MSU holds the slight advantage, 5-4. On neutral territory, Nebraska has a slight edge, 2-1.
LAST TIME VS. NEBRASKA
Despite a valiant fourth-quarter effort, the No. 4-seeded Michigan State women's basketball team fell to No. 5-seeded Nebraska, 73-61, at the TIAA Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center on March 8, 2024.
For just the second time this season, Michigan State had only one player in double figures. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault led the all scorers with 25 points, while also adding five rebounds and three blocks. Junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, senior guard Moira Joiner and sophomore guard Theryn Hallock all added eight points.
Ayrault's 25 points ties for 11th for most points by a Spartan in the Big Ten Tournament. Maxann Reese also scored 25 points against Penn State on Feb. 27, 1999.
BALANCED ATTACK
Six different Spartans have led the team in scoring. Julia Ayrault has led the team in scoring five 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 1,062 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 1,122 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 1,237 points during four seasons at Arizona State her time at MSU. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate is looking to be the next member with 918 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. PURDUE
• No. 21/21 Michigan State has posted 10-straight Victories for MSU at home dating back to winning the last two home contests of last season and the first eight home games this season. Over the last season-and-a-half, MSU won 21 of its last 23 home games at the Breslin Center, after starting this season 8-0 at home following posting a 13-2 ledger last season at home. Overall, MSU has won 32 of its last 40 home games dating back to the 2022-23 season.
• The Spartans improved to 12-2 overall with the win, their best start through 14 games in the two seasons under head coach Robyn Fralick, after going 11-3 through 14 contests last year. The 12-2 mark is MSU's best start through 14 games since the 2012-13 squad was 13-1.
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. It is the Spartans' sixth different starting five. Tate is the only MSU player to have started every game this season.
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 14 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 BIG TEN
Michigan State is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 83.6 points per game, just ahead of Ohio State's 85.9 ppg, Maryland's 84.5 ppg and USC's 83.9. MSU is also second in the league in blocks (5.7). MSU is second in steals with 14.3 and second in assists with 18.8 apg. The Spartans are second in turnover margin (+10.0).
Individually, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is 11th in the league in scoring (16.2 ppg). Graduate guard Nyla Hampton is fourth in the league in steals (2.3 spg).
AROUND THE NATION
After 14 games, the Spartans are 16th in the nation scoring margin, winning games by 26.8 points. Michigan State is seventh in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in steals per game with 14.3 apg. MSU third in the nation in free throws made with 18.1 and eighth in turnover margin (+10.0).
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.
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 153. With 10 boards against Purdue on Jan. 1, Ayrault now has 629 rebounds for her career, just 10 shy of cracking into MSU's Top 20 career rebounding list, as Lil Preston (1980-83) has 639 rebounds at the No. 20 spot.
LOCKED IN DEFENSE
Graduate guard Nyla Hampton is fourth in the Big Ten in steals, averaging 2.29 spg. Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons is tied for seventh in the Big Ten in steals with 2.14 spg. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate is eighth in the B1G with 2.07 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 14.3 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. 21/21 Michigan State women's basketball opened the 2025 portion of the season with a wire-to-wire win against Purdue, 77-59, on Jan. 1 at the Breslin Center.
Freshman forward Inés Sotelo made her first collegiate start, making the most of it with a career-high16 points. She also tied her career-high with six rebounds. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate tied her career high with 19 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double as a Spartan. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault added a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Coming off the bench for the first time this season, junior forward Grace VanSlooten scored 13 points.
MSU was once again solid on defense, forcing 25 turnovers and 18 steals.
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.
