MSU is 1-0 on this road trip so far.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 22/22 Michigan State women's basketball concludes its two-game road swing at Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. ET. The Spartans have won 11 of the last 12 meetings against the Illini. The game will be streamed on B1G+ with Drew Burkey and Mazie Gierat on the call.
• After a 70-60 win over Rutgers on Jan. 15, the Spartans have now won two-straight games. Michigan State improves to 14-3 this season and 4-2 in Big Ten action.
• Illinois has also won two-straight games after a 68-54 win over Indiana in Bloomington on Jan. 16. The Illini are now 13-4 this season and have evened their B1G record to 3-3.
• With 12 points against Rutgers, Julia Ayrault has registered double-digits in the scoring column in all 16 games played this season, after missing the Detroit Mercy game (12/20/24) with an injury. Ayrault has posted double-figures in the last 29 games in a row, past of doing so in 40 of her last 45 games played since the start of the 2023-24 season. Overall, the Spartan has double-digits in her 56th career game. MSU improved to 42-14 when Ayrault scores 10+ points.
• The Spartans have three players averaging in double figures led by Julia Ayrault 16.4 ppg. Eight MSU players are averaging at least 5.0 ppg.
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
Illinois has won two-straight games with a home win against Illinois and a road victory over Indiana on Jan. 16. Overall, Illinois is 13-4 this season and 3-3 in Big Ten contests. The Illini's other Big Ten win came against Oregon. Illinois has losses to Ohio State, Washington and Minnesota.
Kendall Bostic is 12th in the Big Ten and first on the team in scoring, averaging 16.0 ppg. She is also second in the league in rebounding, averaging 11.1 rpg. Illinois is first in the league in free throw percentage, shooting 79.3 percent from the charity stripe. Illinois is 12th in the B1G in scoring, averaging 71.9 ppg.
Illinois head coach Shauna Green is in her third season as the helm of the fighting Illini with a 54-29 record. Overall, she is in her 11th season as a head coach with stops at Dayton and Loras. Her overall record is 210-104.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE ILLINOIS
Overall, the Spartans lead the overall series with the Fighting Illini, 46-30. Michigan State has won 11 of the last 12 meetings with Illinois. In Champaign, MSU has a slight edge, 18-17. In East Lansing, Michigan State leads the series 25-10. On neutral territory, the series is tied 3-3. The two teams met only once last season on Senior Day. The Spartans had five in double figures, as MSU defeated Illinois 87-70 on Feb. 29.
FAMILIAR FACE
Spartan fans will see a familiar face on the Illini bench. Senior forward Kendall Bostic played her freshman season at Michigan State during the 2020-21 season. She has earned All-Big Ten honors every season at Illinois.
LAST TIME VS. ILLINOIS
With five players in double figures, Michigan State women's basketball sent seniors Moira Joiner and Tory Ozment out in style with a wire-to-wire win against Illinois, 87-70, on Feb. 29, 2024 at the Breslin Center.
Joiner and sophomore guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans with 16 points each, part of five players in double figures. Ozment also had a strong Senior Day with 15 points, while junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate added 11 points and two steals. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault had her fourth double-double of the season and sixth of her career with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Illinois was led by 21 points and 10 boards from former Spartan Kendall Bostic.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Looking through 17 games last season, Michigan State was 13-4 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play, while standing 14-3 this season and 4-2 in conference games this year. The Spartans steals are up quite a bit this season with 225 compared to 162 last year through 17 games. Last year, MSU had hit 169 treys compared to only 119 this year. The 2023-24 team was averaging 88.5 points, while allowing 66.6 ppg. This season, the Spartans are scoring 82.4 ppg, while allowing only 59.3 ppg. Last season, Moira Joiner led MSU in scoring with 270 points, while Julia Ayrault leads this season with 263.
BALANCED ATTACK
Seven different Spartans have led the team in scoring. Julia Ayrault has led the team in scoring eight times, while Grace VanSlooten is second with five. Theryn Hallock has been the leading scorer twice, while Jocelyn Tate, Jaddan Simmons, Emma Shumate and Juliann Woodard have led once.
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. 1, followed by No. 4 USC, No. 8 Maryland, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 22 Michigan State, and No. 24 Minnesota. Michigan, Indiana and Iowa are also receiving votes in this week's poll.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault's 12 points against Rutgers on Wednesday give her 1,174 points for her career, holding at No. 22 on MSU's career scoring list, and needing just seven more points to tie Rene Haynes (2003-07) at No. 21 with 1,181 points, and needing just eight more points to crack the Top 20, as Victoria Lucas Perry (2003-07) holds the No. 20 spot with 1,182 points.
With nine rebounds, Ayrault now has 656 career rebounds, moving up to No. 17 on MSU's career rebounding list, passing Nanette Gibson (1978-81) with 648 rebounds and Aisha Jefferson (2005-2010) with 652 rebounds. Ayrault is 13 rebounds away from the No. 16 spot, held by Kelli Roehrig with 669 boards.
NET RANKINGS
In the current women's basketball NET ranking, the Spartans stand No. 20. They are fifth among Big Ten schools behind No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 USC, No. 11 Ohio State and No. 18 Maryland. South Carolina stands No. 1. The Big Ten has five schools in the top 25 in NET rankings.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. RUTGERS
• The Spartan bench outscored their Scarlet Knight counterparts by a whopping 34-8 (+26) advantage, improving to 13-1 when outscoring the opponent's bench. The 26-point advantage is the largest in a B1G game this season and tied for the third-largest of the year, behind +38 (42-4) vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24) and +31 (48-17) vs. Oakland (11/5/24), while matching +26 (37-11) vs. Eastern Kentucky (11/14/24). Wednesday's +26 advantage is the sixth game with +20 or more bench-point advantage.
• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten tallied 11 points off the bench to register her 14th game in double-digit scoring in playing 16 of the 17 contests this season, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness. The junior forward has posted double-figures in the scoring column 66 times out of 79 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.
LENDING A HELPING HAND
After never leading MSU in assists in her Spartan career for her previous 42 games in the Green & White, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate has led the Spartans in assists in three of the last six games played, and Wednesday's assist-topping outing was the first in which Michigan State won, as her previous two times came in MSU's two losses in back-to-back games, vs. Alabama (12/20/24) and at Maryland (12/29/24).
YOUR STARTING FIVE
Michigan State started with the same starting line-up for the fourth-straight game with graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, junior guard Theryn Hallock and freshman center Inés Sotelo on the court for the opening tip. It was Sotelo's fourth start in a row after coming off the bench in the previous 13 games. The starting line-up MSU opened with was one of six different starting fives that the Spartans have utilized this season. Tate is the only MSU player to have started every game this season.
AROUND THE BIG TEN
Michigan State is fifth in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 82.4 points per game. The Spartans also fifth in scoring (+23.1). MSU is second in the league in blocks (5.3). MSU is second in steals with 13.2 and second in assists with 18.7 apg. The Spartans are second in turnover margin (+8.8).
Individually, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is ninth in the league in scoring (16.4 ppg). Junior forward Grace VanSlooten is 10th in the league in field goal percentage (.485). Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons and senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate are tied for sixth in the league in steals (2.06 spg).
WELCOME HOME
Against Washington, MSU celebrated Alumni Day, with the Spartans honoring their women's basketball alums, including the 2005 Final Four team. The 2005 Spartans in attendance were recognized at the end of the first quarter, while all the alumni were honored at halftime, with approximately 50 former players in attendance, ranging from as recent as the class of 2022, to as far back as the class of 1965. All-Americans Kristin Haynie, Liz Shimek and Lindsay Bowen were among the alumni in attendance to celebrate the 2005 team.
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).
AROUND THE NATION
After 17 games, the Spartans are 20th in the nation scoring margin, winning games by 23.1 points. Michigan State is seventh in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in steals per game with 13.2 apg. MSU is fourth in the nation in free throws made with 17.6 and 10th in turnover margin (+8.8).
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 1,104 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 1,174 points. Graduate guard Nyla Hampton has scored 1,251 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 937 points between her two seasons at Bowling Green and two at MSU.
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.
LOCKED IN DEFENSE
Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons and senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate are sixth in the Big Ten in steals with 2.06 spg. Graduate guard Nyla Hampton is tied for ninth in the Big Ten in steals, averaging 1.88 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 13.6 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. 22/22 Michigan State women's basketball earned its first Big Ten road win of the season with a hard-fought, 70-60, win against Rutgers Wednesday night at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Michigan State had three players in double figures led by 12 points each by junior guard Emma Shumate and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault. Shumate netted a season-high tying four 3-pointers to match her MSU career high which she also had against DePaul on Dec. 8.
Shumate and Ayrault not only shared top scoring honors, but they did so on the eve of their birthdays, as Ayrault and Shumate also share their birthday of January 16 on Thursday.
Junior forward Grace VanSlooten added 11 points for the Spartans. MSU's bench came up big, out-scoring the Rutgers bench, 34-8. Ayrault also led the team in rebounds with nine.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
