No. 22/21 Spartan Women Conclude Road Trip at No. 4/4 USC Wednesday
This is the first meeting between the teams since 2005.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - No. 22/21 Michigan State women's basketball will conclude its two-game West Coast road trip, taking on No. 4/4 USC on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Tipoff is set for 9:30 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on Peacock with Zora Stephenson and Kimberly Adams on the call.
• On Feb. 16, Michigan State dropped a close 75-69 battle to No. 1/1 UCLA in Los Angeles. With the loss, the Spartans fall to 19-6 overall and 9-5 in Big Ten contests. This will be the first meeting between MSU and USC since the Spartans defeated the Trojans in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis, 61-59.
• USC defeated Washington on the road on Feb. 16, 69-64. The Trojans have won four-straight games, including defeated then-No. 1 UCLA on Feb. 13. Overall, USC is 23-2 and hold a 13-1 Big Ten record.
• The last time that the Spartans faced back-to-back top-10 teams was during the 2021-22 season. Michigan State upset No. 4/4 Michigan at home on Feb. 10, 63-57. On Feb. 12, the Spartans fell on the road to No. 7/7 Indiana, 76-58.
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• With its next B1G win, MSU would post its first back-to-back seasons with 10+ conference wins since 2012-13 and 2013-14, that were the last two seasons of a 12-year streak of double-digit league wins.
SCOUTING USC
After defeating No. 1 UCLA, USC has moved up to No. 4 in this week's AP poll. The Trojans last beat Washington on the road, 69-64, on Feb. 16 and have won four-straight games. Overall, USC stands 23-2 and 13-1 in league contests. The Trojans only Big Ten loss of the season came at Iowa, 76-69, in Iowa City on Feb. 2.
The Trojans are first in the Big Ten in scoring offense (82.1), while also standing first in scoring margin (+25.1). USC is third in the league in rebound margin (+8.4). Individually, JuJu Watkins is first in the league in scoring, averaging 24.2 points per game, while Kiki Iriafen is sixth with 17.8 ppg. Watkins is also tied for fourth in blocked shots, averaging 1.88 bpg.
USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is in her fourth season at the helm of the Trojans with a record of 85-34 record. During her 15 year career, she has also had stops at UC Santa Barbara and California. She has a career record of 320-162.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE TROJANS
Much like the series with UCLA. The series between Michigan and USC is brief. The Trojans lead the overall series, 2-1. USC won the first meeting on Jan. 3, 1992 in East Lansing, 56-51. In Los Angeles on Dec. 30, 1992, the Trojans won, 66-50. MSU earned its first win in the series, 61-59 in the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament in 2005. The Spartans would eventually play for the National Championship that season.
LAST TIME VS. USC
With quick hands and a sure shot, Rene Haynes spared top-seeded Michigan State the disappointment of an early exit from the NCAA tournament.
Haynes came up with the ball in a wild scramble and made a layup with 2.9 seconds left, giving Michigan State a 61-59 victory over eighth-seeded Southern California in a second-round game on March 21, 2005.
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Hearts were pounding on the Michigan State side because it was a scary game for the Spartans (30-3), who were out-hustled and outrebounded by their young, scrappy opponent. But they survived to reach the round of 16 for the first time and will take a 14-game winning streak into the semifinals of the Kansas City Regional on Sunday, meeting the winner of Monday's late game between Kansas State and Vanderbilt.
NEVER BACK DOWN
The last time that the Spartans faced back-to-back top-10 teams was during the 2021-22 season. Michigan State upset No. 4/4 Michigan at home on Feb. 10, 63-57. On Feb. 12, the Spartans fell on the road to No. 7/7 Indiana, 76-58. The last time Michigan State defeated a top-10 opponents was an 83-78 win against No. 3/3 Indiana in East Lansing on Dec. 29, 2022.
The last time that Michigan State defeated a top-10 opponent in a true road game was a 71-68 overtime win over No. 7/9 Ohio State on Feb. 21, 2010.
PLAYING THE TOP DOG
Michigan State played the No. 1 in the country for the seventh time in program history with Sunday's match-up vs. top-ranked UCLA. Sunday was the first match-up vs. No. 1 since Nov. 25, 2017 when MSU played No. 1 UConn in Portland, Oregon, at the Nike PK80 Invitational in honor of Phil Knight's 80th birthday. The Spartans are now 1-6 against No. 1 teams, with their only previous win coming over No. 1 Stanford in the 2005 NCAA Elite Eight, ending in a 76-69 Victory for MSU and the Spartans advanced to the Final Four.
By being ranked No. 22/22, Sunday was the fourth of the seven meetings when MSU was ranked when facing the No. 1 team and the first since Jan. 6, 2007 when No. 19/18 Spartans lost at No. 1/1 Maryland, 97-57.
GETTING IT DONE ON THE CHARITY STRIPE
Against No. 1 UCLA, the Spartans were a perfect from the charity stripe. They 12-of-12 was also the fourth-highest overall of the 12 times, trailing 19-of-19 vs. Michigan (2/3/16); 14-of-14 vs. Penn State (2/9/03); 13-of-13 vs. Evansville (11/19/23).
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19-19 vs. Michigan 85-64 at East Lansing 2/3/16
14-14 vs. Penn State 60-64 at East Lansing 2/9/03
13-13 vs. Evansville 105-49 at East Lansing 11/19/23
12-12 vs. UCLA 69-75 at Los Angeles, 2/16/25
11-11 vs. CMU 91-67 at East Lansing, 12/17/23
11-11 vs. CMU 88-87 at South Bend3/23/19
11-11 at Nebraska 71-82 at Lincoln 2/17/19
11-11 vs. Ohio State 65-64 at East Lansing 2/13/03
11-11 vs. Ohio State 65-59 at Columbus 2/6/82
10-10 vs. Valparaiso 76-62 at East Lansing, 11/16/21
10-10 vs. Wisconsin 81-57 at Madison, 1/15/17
10-10 vs. California 93-62 at Berkeley 12/21/96
QUITE THE TRIO
With 1,279 points, 708 rebounds and 173 blocks, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault joins a very small club. She is one of only three Spartans with over 1,250 points, 700 rebounds and 150 blocks. All-American Allyssa DeHaan ended her Spartan career with 1,649 points, 919 rebounds and 504 blocks. Kristen Rasmussen finished with 1,493 points, 964 rebounds and 194 blocks.
GRACE THE GREAT
Junior forward Grace VanSlooten tallied 16 points against UCLA to register 10+ points in each of the last 12 games as part of posting double-digit points in 22 of her 24 games played at MSU, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness and held to single digits twice. VanSlooten has now registered double-digit points 74 times out of 87 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.
NET RANKINGS
In the current women's basketball NET ranking, the Spartans stand No. 21. They are fourth among Big Ten schools behind No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 USC and No. 16 Ohio State. UConn stands No. 1. The Big Ten has six schools in the top 25 in NET rankings with Michigan standing No. 24 and Maryland holding down the No. 25 spot.
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RANKED BIG TEN TEAMS
Six different Big Ten teams are ranked or receiving votes in the AP top 25 poll. UCLA leads the way at No. 3, followed by No. 4 USC, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 21 Maryland and No. 22 Michigan State. This week, Illinois re-entered the poll this week at No. 25. Michigan is also receiving votes in this week's poll.
AYRAULT ASCENDS THE CHARTS
Julia Ayrault's 18-point outing gives her 1,279 career points, holding solid at No. 14 on MSU's career scoring list. Next up at the No. 13 spot is Kelli Roehrig (2013-18) with 1,370 points.
The five rebounds against UCLA on Feb. 16 gives Ayrault 708 career rebounds, holding at No. 12 on MSU's career rebounding list and just seven away from Branndais Agee (2013-18) with 715 boards. With two triples Sunday, Ayrault now has 123 career 3-pointers, pulling away from a tie with Spartan great Aerial Powers (2013-16) at No. 15 on MSU's career 3-pointers list with 121 3-pointers and moving up to a tie for No. 14 with Eileen Shea (1987-91) with 123 treys.
She has now played 132 career games, taking over sole possession of No. 9 on MSU's career games played list, pulling away from a seven-way tie, most recently Tori Jankoska (2013-17). In her next game played, Ayrault will tie for No. 8 spot held by Aisha Jefferson (2005-10) with 133 games.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. UCLA
• Sunday was also only the second time of the seven that MSU played the No. 1 team on their home court, with the only other time being at No. 1/1 Maryland on Jan. 6, 2007.
• The junior guard Theryn Hallock swiped a team-best and game-high tying four steals. The four swipes tied Hallock's season high for the third time, including second time in a B1G game, last doing so at Illinois (1/19/25), and also swiping four steals vs. Detroit Mercy (11/20/24).
BALANCED ATTACK
Seven different Spartans have led the team in scoring. Julia Ayrault has led the team in scoring nine times, while Grace VanSlooten is second with eight. Theryn Hallock has been the leading scorer six times, while Jocelyn Tate, Jaddan Simmons, Emma Shumate and Juliann Woodard have led once.
CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME
This is the second trip to California this season for MSU. The Spartans won the Acrisure Classic in November with wins over California and Vanderbilt. Prior to the Acrisure Classic, Michigan State had not played in California since the 2016-17 season when MSU played in the Radisson Thanksgiving Classic in Northridge, California. In that tournament, the Spartans defeated Delaware, 88-55, before edging host CSUN, 63-59. In the 2009, NCAA Regional Semifinals, MSU fell to Iowa State in Berkeley.
YOUR STARTING FIVE
Michigan State used the same starting line for the fourth game in a row, with graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, junior guard Theryn Hallock and junior forward Grace VanSlooten. Sunday was the sixth game overall this season with that starting five and MSU is now 3-3 with that starting five for the opening tip.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Michigan State's 9-5 league record places them sixth in the league right now. It is a tight race in the middle of the standings right now. Ohio State is third with a 11-3 record, while Michigan and Oregon are tied for seventh with 9-6 records.
AROUND THE BIG TEN
Michigan State is second in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 81.5 points per game. The Spartans are also third in scoring margin (+20.0). MSU is second in the league in blocks (5.7 bpg). MSU is second in steals with 13.0 spg and second in assists with 19.2 apg. The Spartans are second in turnover margin (+8.2).
Individually, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is 16th in the league in scoring (15.3 ppg). Junior forward Grace VanSlooten is third in the league in field goal percentage (.538). Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons is third in the Big Ten assist/turnover ratio (2.31). Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate is third in the league in steals (2.24). Graduate guard Nyla Hampton is seventh in steals (2.00 spg).
AROUND THE NATION
After 25 games, the Spartans are 18th in the nation scoring margin, winning games by 19.0 points. Michigan State is eighth in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in steals per game with 12.9 spg. MSU is ninth in the nation in assists with 18.9 apg and 12th in turnover margin (+7.8).
LAST TIME OUT
No. 22 Michigan State women's basketball took the fight to No. 1 UCLA and gave the Bruins all they could handle Sunday night at Pauley Pavilion. However, MSU was overtaken late by a 7-0 UCLA run and the Spartans were topped, 75-69, by the top-ranked Bruins, despite having three players in double figures.
Junior guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans with a game-high 19 points, adding four steals and three assists. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault scored 18 points, including 11 in the second half alone. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten added 16 points to go along with seven rebounds. Off the bench, graduate guard Nyla Hampton swiped three steals, as part of 10 team steals for MSU on the night. Michigan State was stellar from the free throw line, tying a school record going 12-for-12.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
