MSU Women Open Homestand Against CMU Friday

Friday, December 18

East Lansing, Mich.

5 PM ET

Michigan State University

Central Michigan

12/17/2020 1:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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The Spartans conclude non-conference play with three home games.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball begins a very busy stretch before the holiday break. The Spartans will host in-state foe Central Michigan on Friday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. MSU will end non-conference play against Northern Illinois on Dec. 20 and Oakland on Dec. 22. Michigan State is currently 4-0 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten play. CMU comes to East Lansing with a 3-1 overall record and is 2-0 in MAC play. This week the Spartans received votes in both polls.

• MSU opened Big Ten play 2-0 for the first time since 2013-14 season, which was the Spartans' last Big Ten title.

• Michigan State is looking to improve to 5-0 for the first time since the 2012-13 season, when the Spartans started the season 8-0. MSU now stands 4-0 for the fifth time in the last six seasons.

• The battle against Central Michigan re-unites MSU assistant coach Kristin Haynie against her former team. Haynie was an assistant coach for the Chippewas from 2014-17. This will be the first meeting between the teams since MSU's 88-87 NCAA Tournament win in 2019. This is only the second time that Coach Merchant (CMU, 1991) has faced her alma mater.

• Junior guard Nia Clouden and sophomore guard Alyza Winston have been quite the scoring due of late. Clouden leads the team in scoring with 19.0 ppg, while Winston averages 18.7 ppg.

SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
After a season opening loss to Michigan on Nov. 25, Central Michigan has now won three-straight games with wins against Western Michigan, Cincinnati and Miami (Ohio). All three of the Chippewas wins have come at home. Overall, CMU is 3-1 overall and 2-0 in Mid-American Conference action.

Central Michigan has four players averaging in double figure led by Micaela Kelly who scores 22.3 point per game. Molly Davis is scoring 20.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Kyra Bussell (12.0 ppg) and Maddy Watters (11/3 ppg) are both scoring in double figures. Kelly is 24th in the nation and third in the MAC in scoring. As a team, the Chippewas are scoring 76.3 ppg, while allowing only 69.3 ppg.

CMU Heather Oesterle coached with Kristin Haynie while both were assistant coaches Central Michigan.

SERIES HISTORY VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Michigan State holds the overall series lead against Central Michigan, 28-8. The last time that the two teams met was in the NCAA Tournament in South Bend, Indiana on March 23, 2019. In that battle, MSU came out on top, 88-87. The Spartans have won seven-straight game in the series, dating back to 1996. Prior to the meeting in 2019, the two teams had not met since 2005. The last time Central Michigan defeated Michigan State in East Lansing was a 65-54 win on Dec. 7, 1985.

This is only the second time that Coach Merchant has faced her alma mater. The 1991 graduate has only taken on CMU in 2019.

LAST TIME VS. THE CHIPPEWAS
Guard Shay Colley's layup with 7.6 seconds remaining propelled the No.9-seeded Michigan State women's basketball team past No. 8-seeded Central Michigan, 88-87, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana on March 23, 2019.

The Spartans led the high-powered affair for 33:28, but the game came down to the wire. The Chippewas took the lead, 87-86 with 20 seconds left after a 3-pointer by Presley Hudson, but Colley provided the game-winning answer just seconds later.

Michigan State advances to the second round for the first time since 2016, when MSU fell to Mississippi State in the second round.

BIG TEN OPENERS
Michigan State is 19-19 in Big Ten openers, having won six of their last nine. MSU is now 8-5 in league openers in Coach Merchant's 13 seasons. Last season, the Spartans won their opener in East Lansing against No. 16 Iowa, 84-70. The last time that Michigan State played Minnesota in a B1G opener was to start the 2013-14 league action with MSU winning 81-56 on the road.

BACK IN UNIFORM
Junior guard Janai Crooms, who was recently granted eligibility on Dec. 4 after transferring from Ohio State last summer, made her Spartan debut at 6:18 of the first quarter, checking in. Crooms wasted little time in making the first bucket of her career in a Green & White jersey, just minutes later, at 3:42 of the first quarter with a layup. Crooms ended up with three points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in her Spartan debut.

CLOUDEN WITH A CHANCE OF SCORING
Junior guard Nia Clouden made her team-leading 67th career start, as she continues to start every game of her Spartan career. She now has scored 909 points, heading toward her quest for 1,000 points.

Clouden posted double-digits for the fourth game this season with 21 points. She reached 20 points for the second-straight game, which was her 12th 20-point outing of her career. Clouden now has 15-straight career games in double-digits dating back to last year, having posted double-figures in 31 of her last 34 games played. For her career, Clouden now has scored in double-digits in 56 of her 67 games played.

PUTTING UP BIG NUMBERS
After not having a pair of 20-point scorers in the same since Feb. 3, 2019 vs. Purdue when Shay Colley and Sidney Cooks netted 20 points apiece before Winston and Clouden did it last against Minnesota on Dec. 9, the Spartan duo has now reached that feat in back-to-back games with Winston's 25 points and Clouden's 21 points on Dec. 12 vs. Iowa.

Clouden and Winston's back-to-back 20-point games marks the first time that the Spartans have had two 20-point scorers in consecutive games since the 2016-17 season, when Aerial Powers (27) and Branndais Agee (20) did so on Feb. 3. vs. Michigan, then Powers (31) and Agee (22) on Feb. 5 vs. Maryland.

PASSING THE BALL
Michigan State distributed the ball nicely in the season opener against Saint Francis on Nov. 27. The Spartans recorded 25 assists in the win with five different players having at least three helpers. Against Detroit Mercy, MSU topped that with 26 assists on Dec. 2, adding 18 against Iowa on Dec. 12. Overall, Michigan State is second in the Big Ten, averaging 21.5 apg. Northwestern leads the league in helpers with 23.5 apg during its two games. Junior guard Nia Clouden is sixth in assists, averaging 5.5 apg. Northwestern's Veronica Burton leads the conference with 8.0 apg.

LONG-RANGE WINSTON
Sophomore guard Alyza Winston netted six 3-pointers against Iowa on Dec. 12, which is tied for No. 7 on MSU's single-game 3-point list, marking the 11th time that a Spartan has made six triples, and the first since former teammate Taryn McCutcheon at Penn State on Feb. 4, 2018. Of those 11 times, Winston's six treys Saturday at home was the first time in last four occurrences that came in the Breslin Center and first since Tori Jankoska vs. Colgate on Dec. 29, 2013 and the first time in a home Big Ten game since Tanya Place vs. Wisconsin on Feb. 14, 1993. Winston ended the game with a team-leading 25 points.

SPARTANS AGAINST THE NCAA
After four games, the Spartans are currently seventh in the nation in assists per game (21.5 apg) and seventh in assists to turnover ratio (1.65). Michigan State is also in the top 10 in turnover margin, standing sixth with a +10.25 margin. Junior guard Nia Clouden is 53rd in the nation and fifth in assists in assists with 22, while standing 32nd in the country and sixth in the Big Ten in assists per game with 5.5 apg.

ERASE HATE
Michigan State women's basketball head coach Suzy Merchant is proud to launch the Erase Hate campaign for the 2020-21 season. The Erase Hate campaign aims to put the focus on student-athlete driven programming to address social injustice issues.

Throughout this season, women's basketball players work to help lift up the voices of underrepresented groups both on campus and across the Greater Lansing area.

FAST OUT OF THE GATE
MSU scored a season-high 48 points in the first half on the way to a 48-38 lead at intermission at Minnesota. The Spartans' 28 second-quarter points were their most in a quarter this season, bettering the previous quarter-high of 24 points, done twice, first in the opening quarter vs. Saint Francis (PA) in the season-opener on Nov. 27, and again in the fourth frame vs. Detroit Mercy on Dec. 2. Against Iowa on Dec. 12, the Spartans scored 44 points in the first half with 24 points in the first quarter.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
Against Detroit Mercy on Dec. 2, Michigan State forced a season-high 25 turnovers, leading to a season-high 33-8 points off turnovers advantage. MSU's bench also had a 31-5 edge. Against Minnesota on Dec. 9, the Spartans forced 23 turnovers. Through four games, MSU's opponents have 83 turnovers, compared to only 52 by the Spartans. Michigan State has scored 116 points off of turnovers, which is 35.6 percent of its offense.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Nia Clouden (19.0 ppg) and Alyza Winston (18.7 ppg) stand seventh and eighth, respectively in the Big Ten in scoring. The Spartans have three players in the top 10 in steals per game, led by sophomore guard Moira Joiner, who is tied for fifth in the Big Ten with 2.7 spg. Sophomore guard Julia Ayrault and junior guard Nia Clouden are tied for seventh (2.5 spg). Joiner is also tied for first in assist-turnover ratio (10.0).

MASK UP, MICHIGAN
Things will look very different in the Breslin Center to start the season. Currently, there will be no fans in the stands, including the families of the players. Crowd noise will be piped and the music will be going to get the players hyped up. From the comfort of home, fans can look for familiar faces in the cardboard cutouts in the stands. All postgame media will be done via Zoom this year.

SEASON OPENERS
All-time, the Spartans are now 34-15 in season openers, but also 26-2 when the opener is in East Lansing. Coach Merchant is 11-3 in season openers at MSU, and has won 17 of her last 20, including her time at Eastern Michigan.

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. The Green & White have won 150 of their last 169 games (.888) when scoring at least 70 points, and the Spartans are 168-28 (.857) under head coach Suzy Merchant when hanging at least 70 points on the scoreboard. The Spartans are now 4-0 this season when reaching the 70-point mark.

CLOSING OUT THE GAMES
The Spartans have been extremely effective closing out games over the last couple years, winning 213 of their last 226 games (.942) when leading with five minutes left, including 163 of their last 178. In Coach Merchant's tenure, Michigan State is 248-19 (.929) when holding a lead with five minutes left. This season, MSU is 4-0 when leading with five minutes remaining.

CLOUDEN EARNS PRESEASON HONORS
Michigan State junior guard Nia Clouden has been named Preseason All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media. During the 2019-20 campaign, Clouden finished the season first on the team in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game, which was also eighth in the Big Ten. She also tied for 14th in the league in assists (3.3 apg) and 11th in steals (1.7 spg). Last season, Clouden captured second-team All-Big Big Ten honors after being named to the honorable mention squad as a freshman.