No. 22 Spartans Close Homestand against Wisconsin Wednesday
MSU has won six of the last seven games in the series.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 22/22 Michigan State women's basketball concludes its two-game homestand, taking on Wisconsin on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Tipoff time is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Breslin Center. The game will be streamed on the B1G+ with Marin Klein and Jack Stager on the call.• Last time out, Michigan State fell to in-state rival Michigan, 71-61 on Feb. 9. The Spartans now stand 18-5 overall and 8-4 in Big Ten action. MSU has only three regular-season home games remaining.
• Wisconsin comes to East Lansing having lost three-straight games. Last time out, the Badgers fell to Illinois, 74-51, in Madison on Feb. 9. Overall, Wisconsin stands 11-13 overall and 2-11 in Big Ten play.
• Sunday's attendance against Michigan of 11,043 was the 18th-best in MSU women's basketball history, including the sixth-best when playing the Wolverines. It was the largest crowd since Feb. 23, 2020 vs. Michigan when 11,462 were in attendance.
• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten registered her fourth double-double as a Spartan with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Overall, it was VanSlooten's 14th double-double of her collegiate career after 10 double-doubles during her time at Oregon.
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SCOUTING WISCONSIN
Wisconsin comes to the Breslin Center in the midst of a three-game losing streak with losses to Illinois, USC and Purdue. The Badgers last win came against Michigan on Jan. 29. Overall, Wisconsin holds a 11-13 overall record and stands 2-11 in Big Ten play.
Wisconsin is seventh in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage (.338). The Badgers are also 11th in total 3-pointers made with 148. Serah Williams is third in the league in scoring, averaging 18.9 ppg. She is also second in rebounding with 10.3 ppg. Williams also stands second in the conference in blocks, averaging 2.4 bpg.
Wisconsin head coach Marisa Moseley is in her fourth season leading the Badgers with a record of 45-71 record. Overall, she is in her seventh season as a head coach also spending three seasons at her alma mater Boston University. She has an overall coaching record of 90-100 in seven seasons.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BADGERS
Michigan State holds the series lead over Wisconsin, 50-27. The Spartans have won six of the last seven meetings, including the last two. The last time the teams met in East Lansing, the Badgers came away with an 84-80 overtime win on Jan. 11, 2023.
In East Lansing, the Spartans lead the series 27-7. In Madison, the series is much tighter with MSU on top 20-19. On neutral ground, MSU leads 3-1. Last season, MSU ended the regular season with a commanding 78-52 win in Madison.
LAST TIME VS. WISCONSIN
Michigan State completed the regular season with a 78-52 victory over Wisconsin on March 3, 2024 at the Kohl Center.
Michigan State had four players in double figures led by 20 from graduate guard Moira Joiner, who scored 15 in the second quarter alone. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was close to her second-straight double-double with 19 points and nine board. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann added 12 points, while sophomore guard scored 11. The 22 wins were also the most since MSU went 25-9 during the 2015-16 season.
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The Spartan defense was stellar forcing 25 Wisconsin turnovers. MSU also ended the game with 14 steals, which was the most since having 14 against Minnesota on Feb. 5. It was also the Spartans' third-straight game with double-digit steals.
QUITE THE TRIO
With 1,258 points, 698 rebounds and 169 blocks, graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault joins a very small club. She is one of only three Spartans with over 1,250 points, 650 rebounds and 150 blocks. All-American Allysa 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.
NET RANKINGS
In the current women's basketball NET ranking, the Spartans stand No. 20. They are fourth among Big Ten schools behind No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 USC and No. 15 Ohio State. South Carolina stands No. 1. The Big Ten has five schools in the top 25 in NET rankings with Maryland standing No. 23.
RANKED BIG TEN TEAMS
Five 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. 6 USC, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 17 Maryland and No. 22 Michigan State. Illinois and Michigan are also receiving votes in this week's poll.
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AYRAULT ASCENDS THE CHARTS
Julia Ayrault's 10 points against Michigan on Feb. 9 give her 1,258 career points, moving from No. 15 on MSU's career scoring list to No. 14, passing Branndais Agee (2013-18) with 1,250 points. Next up at No. 13 is Kelli Roehrig (2001-05) with 1,370 points.
With the six rebounds Sunday, Ayrault now has 698 career boards, pulling away from a tie at No. 13 with Jill Prudden (1975-78) with 692, and Ayrault not only takes over sole possession of the No. 13 spot, but she is just two rebounds shy of becoming the 13th player in Spartan women's basketball history with 700 career rebounds. Ayrault's one block gives her 165 blocks for her career, holding steady at her spot at No. 3 on the Spartans' career blocks list.
She has now played in 130 career games, moving up to tie for No. 15 on MSU's career games played list, now tied with a pair of former teammates Tory Ozment (2019-24) and Jenna Allen (2015-19) with 130 career games played. In her next game played, Ayrault will move up to be part of a seven-way tie for No. 9 with 131 games.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. MICHIGAN
• Grace VanSlooten has logged 10+ points in each of the last 10 games as part of posting double-digit points in 20 of her 22 games played, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness. VanSlooten has now registered double-digit points 72 times out of 85 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.
• Nyla Hampton also swiped a team-high and game-best tying four steals for her third game in a row with multiple steals as part of the fifth time in the last six games with two or more steals. It is Hampton's 13th game this season with two or more steals, as part of the fourth game with four or more steals, as her season-high is five steals, done three times this season, including the first meeting with Michigan (1/25/25), giving her nine steals in the two match-ups with U-M.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 20/20 Michigan State split the season series with Michigan after falling to the Wolverines, 71-61 on National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center. MSU won the meeting in Ann Arbor on Jan. 25, 88-58.
MSU had a season-high crowd of 11,043 packed into the Breslin Center, which was 18th-best in school history.
The Spartans had three players in double figures led by junior forward Grace VanSlooten who scored 15 points with 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault scored 10 points, adding six boards. For the second-straight game, graduate guard Nyla Hampton reached double figures off the bench, scoring 11 points with four steals.
Michigan was led by 19 points from Syla Swords.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
