The Spartans will celebrate the 2014 Big Ten Championship team.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball concludes its two-game home stand taking on in-state rival Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 12 p.m. It is also Alumni Day at Breslin Center with former players, coaches and staff being honored at half time. Zach Surdenik and Derrick Mitchell will be on the call for Big Ten Plus.
• The Spartans improved to 14-5 overall and 4-4 in B1G play with a 97-70 win over Purdue on Jan. 24. Michigan stands 14-6 overall and 5-3 in the B1G after an overtime win over Maryland.
• Moira Joiner topped the 1,000 career point mark Wednesday night with a 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark for her fifth point of the game. She becomes the 30th Spartan to join the MSU 1,000-Point Club and the first since Nia Clouden hit her 1,000th point on Jan. 7, 2021 vs. Maryland.
• The Spartans will also celebrate Alumni Day. Among the events scheduled is honoring the 10th anniversary of the 2013-14 Big Ten Championship team. That team went 23-10, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Theryn Hallock and Tory Ozment's 20-point outings against Purdue give the Spartans a total of 12 20-point performances this season. Hallock's 24 points is No. 5 on MSU's single-game scoring list, behind Ayrault's 32 points vs. Coastal Carolina (12/21), Joiner's 27 points vs. Central Michigan (12/17), Joiner's 26 points at DePaul (11/30) and Ayrault's 25 points vs. James Madison (11/23).
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
The Wolverines come to East Lansing with a 14-6 overall and 5-3 B1G ledger in tow. Michigan is 9-1 at home, 3-3 in away games and 2-2 on neutral courts. U-M has won two in a row and three of its last four, starting with a 76-52 win over Wisconsin on Jan. 13, before dropping a 62-43 loss at Nebraska on Jan. 17. The Wolverines bounced back with a 56-50 win at Rutgers on Jan. 21, then rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit for a 79-77 OT win over Maryland on Wednesday night.
Michigan was down 46-31 at intermission and a free throw in the first 15 seconds of the third quarter for a 47-31 score and a 16-point margin, before U-M out-scored Maryland, 19-11 the rest of the third stanza to close to 58-50 entering the fourth quarter. The Wolverines continued to claw away at the deficit, finally tying the game at 67-all with 49 seconds left on a free throw by junior guard Laila Phelia to send the game to OT. In the extra session, Phelia again came up big at the charity stripe, netting a pair of free throws with 0.3 on the clock to complete the comeback win. Sophomore forward Chyra Evans led five Wolverines in double-figures with 17 points.
The Wolverines lead the B1G in scoring defense, limiting the opposition to 58.8 ppg, while ranking 10th in the conference in scoring offense (70.0 ppg), to rank eighth in scoring margin (+11.2). U-M is also second in the league in offensive rebounds (14.3 pg), while 14th in defensive rebounds (23.7 pg), ranking sixth overall in rebounding (38.0), while also ranking third in the league in rebounding margin (+6.8).
Phelia and Hansen are the only two Wolverines averaging double-figure points, with Phelia leading the way with 15.8 ppg, good for eighth in the B1G, while Hansen adds 11.3 ppg, just outside the league's top 25 scorers. Phelia has a team-best 1.3 steals per game, while Hansen leads Michigan in assists with 2.3 apg.
Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico is in her 12th season at U-M, posting a 255-125 record. Overall, Barnes Arico is in her 27th season as a collegiate head coach, amassing a 525-331 ledger.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE WOLVERINES
Michigan State leads the overall series with Michigan 73-25. The Spartans are on top at home 36-9, while the series is closer in Ann Arbor with MSU leading, 28-16. Michigan State leads on neutral territory, 9-0. The Wolverines have had the edge of late, winning six of the last seven meetings. U-M won both games last year, including a 77-67 win in Ann Arbor on Feb. 18.
LAST TIME VS MICHIGAN
Second-half scoring troubles hampered the Michigan State women's basketball team, falling to No. 18/19 Michigan, 77-67, in front of overall 9,000 fans at the Breslin Center on Feb. 5, 2023 on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
MSU's celebrated its field hockey, cross country/track & field, gymnastics, women's soccer, volleyball and cheer and dance teams at half time.
Three Spartans reached double figures led by 12 points from both senior guard Moira Joiner and sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh. Joiner also set a new career high with six steals. Sophomore guard DeeDee Hagemann had another solid game with 11 points, a season-high nine assists and a career-high six steals.
WIRE-TO-WIRE
MSU led from start-to-finish Wednesday night, marking the second-straight home game and the fifth overall time this season that the Spartans have never trailed in the game, including the fourth time at home, joining Game 4 vs. Evansville (11/19/23), Game 10 vs. Central Michigan (12/17/23), Game 12 vs. Coastal Carolina (12/21/23) and Game 17 vs. Northwestern (1/17/24), with the neutral-court Coastal Carolina contest the lone game away from home in going tip to final buzzer never trailing.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. PURDUE
• Michigan State also tied a B1G-high with six blocks, matching six rejections vs. Penn State (12/30/23). It was MSU's seventh game with five or more blocks, improving to 6-1 when doing so.
• The Spartans distributed 24 assists, logging the eighth time this season they've registered 20+ helpers. MSU had just 10 turnovers for a 2.4 assist/turnover ratio, as the Spartans came into Wednesday leading both the B1G and NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (1.76).
• MSU swiped 12 steals, matching the most in a B1G game this season, also with 12 vs. Nebraska (12/9/23). The 12 steals was the Spartans' ninth game with double-digit steals and just the third B1G contest. MSU is now 8-1 overall and 2-1 in B1G action with 10+ steals in a game.
IF YOU CAN'T BEAT HER...JOINER
Graduate guard Moira Joiner topped the 1,000 career point mark Wednesday night with a 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark for her fifth point of the game.She becomes the 30th Spartan women's basketball player to join the MSU 1,000-Point Club and the first since All-American Nia Clouden hit her 1,000th point on Jan. 7, 2021 vs. Maryland. Clouden finished her career in 2022 with 1,882 points. Joiner finished with 14 points Wednesday, giving her 1,009 career points, needing just three more for the No. 29 mark on MSU's scoring list, held by Jill Prudden (1974-78) with 1,012 career points.
LAST TIME OUT
Graduate guard Moira Joiner became the 30th member of the Michigan State women's basketball 1,000-point club early in the first quarter, as the Spartans rolled past Purdue, 97-70 Wednesday at the Breslin Center.
Overall, five Spartans reached double figures in the win. Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock set a new career high with 24 points off the bench, going 10-for-12 from the field. Graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment also set a new career high with 23 points off the bench, also adding eight rebounds. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was just shy of a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds, while sophomore guard Abbey Kimball scored 10 points in the victory.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
