MSU is 4-0 all-time against DePaul.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball will return home to the friendly confines of the Breslin Center, taking on DePaul on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. Sunday is MSU's final non-conference home game this season. Charlie Schmidgall and Jack Stager will be on the call for Big Ten Plus.
• The Spartans are 8-0 for the first time under head coach Robyn Fralick and tied a school record for best start in program history, joining the 2012-13 and 2020-21 Spartan squads for 8-0 starts to the season.
• DePaul comes to East Lansing with a 3-6 overall record. The Blue Demons have lost five of their last six games, including a 64-56 loss to Northwestern on Dec. 4.
• In MSU's win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 27, a Michigan State Spartan reached the 1,000-career points milestone as Grace VanSlooten's 25 points put her over the 1,000-career points, as her 17th point of the game, a layup with 2:20 left in the third quarter, gave her 1,000 points.
• Julia Ayrault was named MVP of the Acrisure Classic, finishing with 46 points and 21 rebounds in the two games, averaging a double-double with 23.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game for the Classic. She added six blocks (3.0 pg), four steals (2.0 spg) and four assists (2.0 apg) for the two contests. She was named to the Big Ten Honor Roll for her efforts
SCOUTING DEPAUL
DePaul comes to the Breslin Center on Sunday with a 3-6 record, playing a very difficult non-conference schedule. The Blue Demons have losses to Oklahoma and Kansas State in Nevada. Most recently, DePaul lost to another Big Ten opponent, Northwestern, 64-56 in Evanston on Dec. 4.
Jorie Allen leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game. Allen is familiar with the Breslin Center, as her sister, Jenna, played for Michigan State from 2016-2019. She is currently an assistant coach at Central Michigan for CMU head coach Kristin Haynie. Taylor Johnson-Matthews is the only other DePaul player averaging in double figures with 12.4 ppg.
Jill Pizzotti is currently serving as the interim head coach as head coach Doug Bruno is on medical leave. Pizzotti has an overall coaching record of 116-173.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BLUE DEMONS
MSU leads the overall series with DePaul, 4-0. Last season, the Spartans defeated the Blue Demons in Chicago, 102-64. MSU also has wins against the Blue Demons in Chicago in 1981 and 1982. The only time the teams met in East Lansing was an 87-76 win in East Lansing in 2002.
LAST TIME AGAINST DEPAUL
Behind a career-high 26 points from graduate guard Moira Joiner as part of five players in double-figures, the Michigan State women's basketball team breezed past DePaul, 102-64, at Wintrust Arena on Nov. 30 , 2023.
Joiner broke her career high with 26 points, going 4-for-9 from long range, and leading the five Spartans in double-figures. Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock also surpassed her career-best with 14 points, also making four 3-pointers. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault and junior guard DeeDee Hagemann also had solid offensive nights with 17 points each. Hagemann also added five assists in the win. Sophomore guard Abbey Kimball added 11 points
DOUBLE TROUBLE
When graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault and junior forward Grace VanSlooten both recorded double-doubles against Western Michigan on Nov. 17, it was the first time since Dec. 17, 2023 against CMU. In that game, Ayrault had 13 points and 10 assists, while Theryn Hallock had 17 points and 12 assists. Ayrault and VanSlooten were at it again when they both had double-doubles in MSU's 78-70 win over Vanderbilt in the Championship game of the Acrisure Classic. VanSlooten had 25 points with 10 rebounds, while Ayrault and 24 points and 12 rebounds en route to earning MVP honors.
BACK AT BRESLIN
After a pair of games in California, the Spartans will return home for their only two home games of the month of December. MSU will host DePaul on Dec. 8, before taking on No. 17/20 Iowa on Dec. 15.
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.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. VANDERBILT
• With the 24 points, Julia Ayrault has now tallied 10+ points in all seven contests this season, and the Spartans are 7-0 when she registered double-digit points. Ayrault has now scored in double-figures in the last 20 games played as part of in 31 of her last 36 games played since the start of the 2023-24 season. Overall, Ayrault logged her 47th career game in double-figures and the Spartans are now 36-11 when nets 10+ points.
• The Spartan starting five of senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, junior forward Grace VanSlooten, junior guard Theryn Hallock, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was Michigan State's first game starting with that five and the Spartans' fourth different starting five.
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.
1k AND COUNTING
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 is now No. 30 on the Spartan scoring list with 1,025 points.
Junior forward Grace VanSlooten followed just one game later, reaching 1,000 career points in a win against Vanderbilt on Nov. 27. She scored a game-high 25 points to reach the landmark 1,000-point mark. She has 1,008 career points between her two years at Oregon and her time at Michigan State.
Ayrault is also fourth in career blocks with 146. She is just one away from tying Lykendra Johnson (2008-12) for third all-time with 147.
LOCKED IN DEFENSE
Graduate guard Nyla Hampton is third in the Big Ten in steals, averaging 2.6 spg. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate is tied for fourth in the Big Ten in steals with 2.4 steals per game with Purdue's Destini Lombard. Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons is with with 2.3 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 15.6 spg.
STINGY DEFENSE
MSU had its streak of holding the opposition to single digits in at least one quarter stopped against Cal on Nov. 26. The Bears scored 10+ points in all four quarters, but the Spartans got back on track by holding Vanderbilt to eight points in the second stanza, as Michigan State's defense has now held registered at least one single-digit scoring in seven of the eight games. MSU has now held the opponent to single-digits in 11 quarters out of 32 total quarters played this season.
CLOSING OUT NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
Michigan State now only has three non-conference games remaining. The game against DePaul is MSU's final regular-season home non-conference game. Before the holiday break, MSU will head to the West Palm Beach Classic to play its final two non-conference games. The Spartans will take on Montana on Dec. 19, before facing No. 19/17 Alabama on Dec. 20.
PUTTING UP THE POINTS
Against Detroit Mercy on Nov. 20, MSU hung 95+ points on the scoreboard for the fifth-straight home game as part of the fifth time out of the six total games so far this season. The five times scoring 95 points or more in six games is the most in program history. The 101 points against UDM on Nov. 20 marked Michigan State's third 100-point scoring outing of the season through the first six games.
AROUND THE BIG TEN
Michigan State is first in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 91.8 points per game, just ahead of Ohio State's 89.1 ppg. MSU is also first in the league in scoring margin (+39.6). MSU is second in steals with 15.5 and assists with 20.9 apg. The Spartans are second in turnover margin (+11.6).
Individually, junior forward Grace VanSlooten is 11th in the league in scoring (17.3 ppg), while graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is 12th (16.3 ppg). VanSlooten is also ninth in the league in rebounds, averaging 8.6 rpg.
AROUND THE NATION
After just eight games, the Spartans are first in the nation scoring margin, winning games by 39.6 points. Michigan State is sixth in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in assists per game with 20.9 apg. MSU is also first in free throws made per game (20.8). Michigan State stands fourth and first in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 91.8 ppg.
LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State captured the Acrisure Classic crown with a thrilling, 78-70 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 27 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs. The Spartans were led by double-doubles from both graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault and junior forward Grace VanSlooten.
For the second-straight game, a Spartan reached the 1,000-point career mark with VanSlooten reaching it with a layup in the third quarter. She joins the 1,000-point club just one day after Ayrault did it in a win over California.
With 22 points yesterday and 24 today, Ayrault earned Acrisure Classic MVP honors. For the first time since Jan. 24, 2024 against Purdue, two Spartans scored at least 20 points. In that game both Theryn Hallock and Tory Ozment surpassed 20 points.
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.
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
