Spartan Women Open NCAA Tournament Against CMU Saturday

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball drew the ninth seed in the Chicago Region and will face eighth-seeded Central Michigan on Saturday, March 23 at approximately 1 p.m. (ET) tip-off in Purcell Pavilion on the campus of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Saturday's first-round clash between the Spartans and Chippewas will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

• Michigan State and Central Michigan will be meeting on the court for the first time since the 2005-06 season, won by MSU, 75-50 on Dec. 30, 2005 in East Lansing, but Saturday will be the fourth overall postseason match-up.

• CMU's Presley Hudson broke current MSU head coach Suzy Merchant's career assist record that Merchant had held from her playing days at CMU (1988-91) of 463 helpers. Hudson now has 640 career assists. This is the first time that Merchant will have faced her alma mater as the Spartans' head coach.

• This will be the first NCAA experience for six Spartans, including redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley and sophomore forward Sidney Cooks. Senior center Jenna Allen has played in three NCAA Tournament games.

• The Spartans have now reached the 20-win plateau for the 10th time during Suzy Merchant's 12-year tenure. MSU is 20-11 this season after finishing league play with a 9-9 record.

MSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
This is the second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and the fourth time overall that the Spartans have been the No. 9 seed, also doing so in 1996 and 2009, along with 2017. MSU is 2-1 in the first round as a No. 9 seed and 3-3 overall. In 1996, Michigan State beat eighth-seeded Massachusetts, 60-57 (OT) in Storrs, Connecticut before going on to lose to No. 1 seed UConn, 88-68, in the second round. In 2009, MSU was the host site and beat No. 8 seed Middle Tennessee State, 60-59, then upset top-seeded Duke, 63-49, in the second round, losing to No. 4 seed Iowa State, 69-68, in the regional semifinals. In their last NCAA Tournament in 2017, ninth-seeded Michigan State lost to eighth-seeded Arizona State, 73-61.

SPARTANS VS THE FIELD OF 64
MSU has played eight teams that reached the NCAA Tournament, including five from the Big Ten. The Spartans have gone 7-5 against those teams. Michigan State has wins against No. 2- seeds Oregon, Iowa and No. 3-seeded Maryland. MSU has wins against No. 10 Indiana, No. 13 Wright State and a pair of wins against No. 8 Michigan.

SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and is making its second appearance in as many years and fifth overall. This is CMU's first at-large bid as the previous four all came after winning the MAC Tournament championship, and the second time marking back-to-back appearances, after last doing so in 1983 and 1984, along with 2013 prior to last season.

CMU currently has a 25-7 record after the top-seeded Chippewas lost to fourth-seeded Buffalo, 82-77, in the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, which snapped Central Michigan's season-long nine game win streak. The Chips won the regular-season MAC title with a 15-3 conference mark, their third-straight MAC regular-season crown.

CMU is led by senior forward Reyna Frost averaging 21.8 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. Senior guard Presley Hudson adds 20.4 ppg, netting 3.4 3-pointers per game. Sophomore guard Micaela Kelly chips in 14.3 ppg. Frost and Kelly share the team lead in 3-point percentage at 41.5 percent.

Hudson leads the Chips with 183 assists this season (5.7 apg) and 640 assists for her career, breaking current MSU head coach Suzy Merchant's career assist record that Merchant had held from her playing days at CMU (1988-91) of 463 helpers.

CHIPS VS. THE FIELD OF 64
Central Michigan faced six 2019 NCAA Tournament teams during the 2018-19 regular season and posted a 5-3 mark against those six foes. CMU played Albany Region No. 1 seed Louisville; Portland Region No. 4 Miami (Fla.); Portland Region No. 6 seed South Dakota State and No. 11 seed Quinnipiac, who play each other Saturday; as well as Portland Region No. 12 seed Central Florida and Albany No. 7 seed Buffalo.

The Chips beat Buffalo twice during the regular season (W, 76-65 on Feb. 2 at home / W, 100-95 on Feb. 16 on road), before losing in the MAC Tournament semifinals (82-77 on March 15 at Cleveland). Central Michigan also beat UCF (75-68 on Nov. 21 at home), Miami (Fla.) (90-80 on Dec. 30 at Miami) and Quinnipiac (67-52 on Dec. 15 at Hamden, Conn.). The Chips lost to then-No. 3 ranked Louisville (72-68 on Dec. 20 at home) and also lost to South Dakota State (80-71 on Nov. 12 at home), along with the MAC tourney loss to Buffalo.

COMMON OPPONENTS
The Spartans and Chippewas have three common opponents on this season's ledger in Oakland, Virginia and Bowling Green. Michigan State won at Oakland, 102-58, on Dec. 5; beat Bowling Green, 99-69, at home on Nov. 6 in the season-opener, and beat Virginia, 91-66, at home on Nov. 28 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Central Michigan routed Oakland, 104-61, at home in the season-opener, won at Virginia, 74-61, on Nov. 24 and won at Bowling Green, 92-54, on Feb. 20.

SERIES HISTORY
Michigan State and Central Michigan will be meeting on the court for the first time since the 2005-06 season, won by MSU, 75-50 on Dec. 30, 2005 in East Lansing, but Saturday will be the fourth overall postseason match-up. This will be the first time Suzy Merchant has faced her alma mater as the Spartan head coach.

MSU leads the all-time series, 27-8, winning the last six meetings and 11 of the last 13. The Spartans and Chippewas are 2-2 on neutral court meetings, but Saturday's NCAA Tournament match-up will be the first meeting outside of the state of Michigan, previously playing in Kalamazoo, Allendale, Rochester and Grand Rapids.

This year's meeting is just the fourth overall in the month of March as well as the fourth postseason match-up, last meeting in the 1978 State of Michigan Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (SMAIAW) Tournament. The Spartans and Chips first postseason meeting was in the 1974 SMAIAW Tournament (MSU W, 47-45) in Mount Pleasant. CMU won the next postseason match-up in the 1976 SMAIAW tourney (75-65), before the Spartans took the 1977 SMAIAW tourney meeting (64-52) and then the match-up in 1978 SMAIAW Tournament (66-58).

AGAINST THE GREAT LAKES STATE
Michigan State has had great success against other collegiate programs in the state of Michigan over the past 16 seasons. Since the beginning of the 2002-03 season, the Spartans are 58-5 (.921) against in-state rivals, including a 43-5 (.896) mark under Coach Merchant. All-time, Michigan State is 191-60 (.761) against other Michigan schools.

B1G IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Six Big Ten schools received berths into the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State and Rutgers earned their way into this year's tournament, with Iowa and Maryland receiving top-four seeds and the right to host first- and second-round games this weekend. This marks the second-straight year, as well as the 15th time in the past 19 years and 22nd time in Big Ten history that at least six current conference members have been selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

INDIANA CONNECTION
Michigan State has a duo of players from the state of Indiana in senior center Jenna Allen and redshirt-junior forward Victoria Gaines. Allen hails from Bedford and her sister will be attending Indiana University next season. Gaines come to MSU from Merrillville. MSU is 0-1 in Indiana this season with a loss at IU on Jan. 6.

SPARTANS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Michigan State women's basketball had four players named to the All-Big Ten teams Shay Colley, Jenna Allen, Nia Clouden and Taryn McCutcheon were honored by the Big Ten coaches and media.

Colley, a guard from Brampton, Ontario, earned first-team All-B1G honors by the coaches for the first time in her career. She also took second-team honors from the media. Last season, Colley captured honorable mention honors in her first season as a Spartan. The guard leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game.

Clouden, a freshman guard from Owings Mills, Maryland was named to the All-Freshman team, as well as being named to the honorable mention squad by both the coaches and the media. She is the first Spartan to be named to the All-Freshman team since Aerial Powers during the 2013-14 season.

Allen, a center from Bedford, Indiana, earned her second career all-conference honor. Allen was voted to the second team both the coaches and the media after taking honorable mention honors a year ago. She has improved in point production every season.

McCutcheon, a guard from East Lansing, Michigan, captured honorable mention honors for the third-consecutive season when she was honored by the media. McCutcheon is tied for third in the league in steals with 2.0 spg.

MAGIC NUMBERS
In head coach Suzy Merchant's tenure, when two numbers on the scoreboard were achieved it typically has been a sign of a MSU win. Overall, MSU has scored at least 70 points in 22 of 27 games this season. MSU has won 136 of its last 153 games when scoring at least 70 points, and MSU is 154-27 under head coach Suzy Merchant when hanging at least 70 points on the scoreboard. This year, MSU is 18-4 when scoring at least 70 with a loss to No. 13 NC State on Nov. 22 and a loss to No. 16 Iowa on Feb. 7. The Spartans also fell to Nebraska 82-71 on Feb. 17 and Ohio State on Feb. 21.

B1G TOURNAMENT REWIND
Senior Jenna Allen's team-high 19 points were not enough as No. 8-seeded Michigan State women's basketball fell to No. 1 seeded Maryland, 71-55, on March 8 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

The Spartans fall to 20-11 overall this season, while Maryland improves to 27-3 and advances to the semifinals. MSU is now 23-24 in the Big Ten Tournament and 2-4 as the No. 9 seed.

Allen led Michigan State in scoring with 19 points to go along with seven rebounds. It was her 19th double-figure scoring game of the season and 45th of her career. Redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley and freshman guard Nia Clouden both added 12 points to pace the Spartans. Overall, MSU struggled from the field shooting a season-low 29.0 percent from the field (18-of-62).

TENACIOUS D
Along with lighting up the scoreboard, MSU and CMU also both have tough defense, as Michigan State held the opposition to 60 points or less in eight games, including four in conference regular-season or tournament action, while CMU had nine games under 60 points, with five games against conference foes. The Spartan defense had 261 steals this season, averaging 8.4 swipes per game, while the Chips had 230 steals, averaging 7.2 spg.

ALLEN CLIMBING UP THE CHARTS
With 13 points on Feb. 21 against Nebraska, senior center Jenna Allen became the 27th player in Spartan history to reach the 1,000 career points milestone. She now has 1,076 career points in her four years in the Michigan State green and white. She is one of only 13 Spartans to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her career.

She has four 20+ point outings this season and five in her career. Against both Oregon and FAU, Allen tied a career-high with three 3-pointers, matching three triples from at Notre Dame (12/16/17), which was also when her career-high of 28 points came.

PACKING THE HOUSE
Michigan State's 74-64 win over Michigan brought in a season-high 11,368 fans into the Breslin Center. The crowd was the 14th best in the nation this season. It was also the third-best in the Big Ten. Overall, the 11,368 fans were the 15th-most fan in the Breslin Center in school history. The Spartans' highest attendance was 14,797 fans against Michigan on Feb. 13, 2011.

MCCUTCHEON MOVIN' ON UP
With two assists against Northwestern on March 7, junior guard Taryn McCutcheon remains third in career helpers with 467 in just three seasons. She passed Christine Powers (1991-95), who had 460. She is one of just five Spartans to reach the 400-assist mark. McCutcheon is now 22 assists away from passing All-American Tori Jankoska (2014-17), who had 489. MSU Hall of Famer Kristin Haynie (2001-05) is the all-time career leader in assists with 574 helpers.

CRASHING THE BOARDS
The Spartans are 16-2 this season when out-rebounding the opposition. The 77-70 loss against Ohio State on Feb. 21 was just the second time that Michigan State lost when out-rebounding its opponent. MSU had a 43-31 advantage on the board in that game. Michigan State is 3-6 when its opponents have more rebounds.

SCORING SHAY
Redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley has been one of MSU's most consistent players. Against Maryland on March 8, Colley's 12 points was her ninth-straight double-figure game and 21st of the season. She now has scored in double digits in 35 career games as a Spartan. Colley netted a career-high 32 points Feb. 11 against Indiana. She topped her previous season-high of 28 points from at Northwestern (Jan. 3) and her previous career-high of 31 points from at South Dakota (March 22, 2018) in last season's WNIT. Colley's 31-point outing is the first 30+ game this season by a Spartan and the first since Colley's 31 points at South Dakota.

ON CLOUD(EN) NINE
Freshman sensation Nia Clouden is climbing up the MSU freshman record charts. She is now fifth in freshman assists with 122 helpers, passing Spartan great Kristin Haynie (2001-02) for fifth in freshman assists. Current teammate Taryn McCutcheon holds the record for freshman assists with 169 during the 2016-17 season. The Ownings Mills, Maryland native is now just seven assists away from tying Kiana Johnson who had 129 assists during the 2011-12 season. Clouden also has scored 373 points this season, which places her No. 6 in freshman scoring, passing Nicole Cushing who scored 372 points during the 1995-96 season.

BEATING THE BEST
The Jan. 17 upset win over No. 9/9 Maryland was Michigan State's fourth home win over a ranked team, marking the first time that the Spartans have defeated four ranked teams at home since 2004-05 when MSU defeated No. 18/17 Iowa, No. 11/12 Minnesota, No. RV/24 Purdue and No. 2/3 Ohio State.
The win was MSU's fourth home win over a ranked team, joining No. 3 Oregon (88-82 on Dec. 9), No. 16 Iowa (84-70 on Dec. 30) and No. 18 Minnesota (Jan. 9), marking the second time in last four seasons that the Spartans have beat four ranked teams in the same season. In 2015-16, the Spartans topped No. 16 Northwestern (home), No. 5 Ohio State (home) and No. 9 Ohio State (neutral).

MSU's losses against ranked teams were against then-No. 15/13 NC State on Nov. 22 and No. 20/23 Rutgers on the road on Jan. 20. The Spartans only other loss to a ranked team was against No. 16/16 Iowa on Feb. 7 and No. 9 Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament on March 8.

The Spartans are now 4-4 this season against ranked opponents, improving to 23-18 overall at home vs. ranked foes under head coach Suzy Merchant.

PUTTING UP THE NUMBERS
In 31 games this season, the Spartans have had a player score at least 20 points 14 times, including Shay Colley scoring a career-high 32 against Indiana on Feb. 11 and 24 points against Wisconsin on Feb. 14. Senior center Jenna Allen has scored at least 20 points four times with a season-high 27 points against Oregon on Dec. 9. Colley has scored at least 20-points six times this season. Freshman guard Nia Clouden scored a career-high 27 against Iowa on Dec. 30 and 20 points in the second meeting against Iowa on Feb. 7 to go along with scoring 23 against OSU on Feb. 21. She has scored at least 20-points three times this season.

BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan State's 88-82 upset of No. 3 was MSU's first upset win over an AP Poll top 5 team since a 107-105 3OT victory over No. 5 Ohio State on Feb. 27, 2016. It was the Spartans' biggest upset win since a 68-64 upset of No. 3 Tennessee on April 3, 2005 in the NCAA Tournament. It was the highest regular-season win since a 82-73 OT win over No. 3 Notre Dame on Dec. 2, 2004.

CLOSING IT OUT
The Spartans have been extremely effective closing out games over the last couple years, winning 192 of their last 204 games (.941) when leading with five minutes left, including 142 of their last 156. In Coach Merchant's tenure, Michigan State is 227-18 (.927) when holding a lead with five minutes left. This season, the Spartans are 20-2 with the only losses coming against Indiana on Jan. 6 and Ohio State on Feb. 21.

B1G BY THE NUMBERS
The Spartans continue to hold several top spots in the Big Ten rankings this week, sitting second in both 3-point field goal percentage (.367) and second in 3-pointers made per game (7.0). Michigan State is second in scoring offense with 75.1 ppg, trailing Iowa's leading 79.8 ppg, along with also ranking second in assists (18.0 apg), turnover margin (+2.3) and assist/turnover ratio (1.3). MSU is also third in steals (8.4 spg) and fourth in field goal percentage (.438).

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Michigan State has had success when it spreads the ball around this season. The Spartans are 12-0 when they have 21 or more assists in a game. Seven different players have led the team in assists this season, topped by junior guard Taryn McCutcheon, who has led MSU eight times.

SPARTANS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
The Spartan guard tandem of junior Taryn McCutcheon and freshman guard Nia Clouden rank sixth and eighth in the B1G and 81st and 88th in the NCAA, respectively in assist-to-turnover ratio. McCutcheon has a 1.89 ratio, while Clouden stands 1.85. McCutcheon is also 55th in the country and third in the conference in 3-point percentage (.387). Senior center Jenna Allen is 61st in the country and sixth in the league in field-goal percentage with a 50.0 percentage.

As a team, MSU is ninth in the NCAA and second in the B1G in assists per game, averaging 18.0. Michigan State is also 21st in the country and second in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.26). MSU is also 22nd in the nation and first in the league in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 36.7 percent behind the arc. The Spartans are 33rd in the country and second in the Big Ten in scoring offense, netting 75.1 points per game, as well as ranking 72nd in the nation and fifth in the league in scoring margin at +7.8. MSU is also 39th in the country and fourth in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 43.8 percent from the field.

2018 ACC/B1G CHALLENGE RECAP
Michigan State was one of the six Big Ten teams to earn a victory in the 12th annual ACC/Big Ten Women's Basketball Challenge, as the ACC won the Challenge, 8-6. MSU was joined in the win column by Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Purdue and Minnesota. The Spartans' 25-point margin of victory (91-66) was not only the largest margin of victory, but also the highest B1G score. Overall, it was the third-largest margin of victory in the challenge, behind Notre Dame's 34-point margin in 105-71 win over Iowa and 29-point margin in Florida State's 87-58 win over Penn State. MSU's 91 points was the second-highest scored in the Challenge behind Notre Dame's 105 points.

BOUNCE BACK ABILITY
In Coach Merchant's first 12 seasons, the Spartans are 80 -34 (70.2%) following a loss.

FREQUENT FLIER
Redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley spent time overseas this summer playing for the Canadian National Team. Playing in Europe, Colley helped guide Canada to the quarterfinals of the FIBA Women's World Cup.

FANS CONTINUE TO PACK THE BRESLIN
Michigan State women's basketball continues to pack the Breslin Center, finishing the 2017-18 season 10th in the nation and second in the Big Ten home attendance. The Spartans averaged 5,689 fans in 16 home games last season. MSU had a total of 91,026 fans pass through the gates. This is the 14th-straight season that the Spartans have been ranked in the top 15 nationally in attendance. MSU has had a total attendance of at least 80,000 since 2005-06.

This season, the Spartans are fifth in the Big Ten and 15th in the nation in attendance, averaging 5,496 fans per game. Michigan State packed 11,368 fans into the Breslin Center as MSU stopped Michigan on Feb. 24. Purdue leads the league in attendance, averaging 6,515 fans per game, while South Carolina is first in the nation with 11,542 per game.

WELCOME TO SPARTAN NATION - SIGNING DAY
MSU head coach Suzy Merchant announced the signing of five National Letters of Intent, including Julia Ayrault (Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan/Grosse Pointe North), Cydni Dodd (Indianapolis, Indiana/Warren Central), Moira Joiner (Saginaw, Michigan/Heritage), Taiyier Parks (Cleveland, Ohio/North Royalton) and Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Michigan/ Muskegon). The class was ranked No. 6 by ESPNW Hoop Gurlz as of Nov. 15.Ayrault is a 6-2 guard who plays for head coach Gary Bennett at Grosse Pointe North High School in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan and played AAU basketball for Rob Ruhstorfer and the Michigan Mystics. Ayrault is currently ranked No. 14 in her position and No. 75 overall by ESPN HoopGurlz. Last season, she averaged 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game and led Grosse Pointe North to the Class A Final Four. Ayrault set program records of scoring 497 points scored in a season.

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Players Mentioned

Jenna Allen

Nia Clouden

Shay Colley

Sidney Cooks

Victoria Gaines

Tori Jankoska

Taryn McCutcheon