Clouden’s Standout Performance Leads MSU Women Past Illinois Thursday

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Junior guard Nia Clouden's sixth 20-point game guided Michigan State women's basketball past Illinois, 81-60, as MSU returned to the Breslin Center Thursday night after three-straight road games.

The Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak and improve to 10-4 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten action. Illinois falls to 2-11 overall and 0-10 in league play.

Clouden led all scorers with 28 points, while also adding six rebounds and a team-high five assists. Junior forward Alisia Smith was also in double figures with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds. Michigan State was solid on both sides of the ball with 10 steals and four blocks and a total of 11 different players scored.

After a slow start, the Spartans used an 13-0 run to take a 15-4 lead over the Illini, leading to an Illinois timeout at the 6:25 mark. The Illini responded with a 9-0 run of their own to trim the lead to 15-13. Michigan State's offense took control from there and jumped ahead at 24-15. Clouden netted the first 10 points of the game on the way to providing half of MSU's scoring in the first quarter with 12 points.

In the second stanza, the Spartans pulled away with a 14-0 run, taking a 42-23 lead at the media timeout. Michigan State ended the first half shooting 60 percent from the field. Nine different Spartans scored in the first half alone, as MSU led 51-28 at the half.

Clouden snapped a 1-for-7 shooting streak by the Spartans, scoring five-straight points. The cold shooting continued in the third period for MSU, as Illinois used an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 63-49 with under a minute left in the third quarter. Illinois out-scored MSU 21-12 in the third period.

Michigan State scored the first 10 points of the final period to regain momentum, 73-49. Once Clouden drained a fast-break layup at the 7:51 mark, Michigan State maintained its 20-point advantage.

The Spartans are back in action at the Breslin Center on Sunday against No. 22/20 Northwestern at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network+.

Post-Game Notes: vs. Illinois

• Junior guard Nia Clouden netted a game-high 28 points, her second-highest of the season behind a career-high 32 vs. Maryland (1/7/21) ... Thursday's 28 points was Clouden's sixth 20+ point outing of the season, as MSU improved to 5-1 when she nets 20 or more points, as well as her 16th career 20-point contest, as the Spartans are now 11-5 when she reaches the 20-point plateau ... Clouden netted the first 10 points of the game, single-handedly out-scoring Illinois 10-4 through the first 3:00 of the game, as she tallied 12 points in the first quarter, scoring from all vantage points, a layup, jumper and 3-pointer, as well as 5-for-5 at the free throw line.

• With 10 field goals made Thursday (10-of-17), Clouden registered her third double-figure field goal outing, and tying her second-most of the season behind season and career-high 12 vs. Maryland (1/7/21) and match 10 at Minnesota (12/9/20).

• Clouden's 28 points continues her streak of netting double-figures in all 14 games this season ... her 14 double-digit scoring outings this season is part of 25-consecutive contests in a her career with double-figures, including netting double-digits in 41 of her last 44 games, doing so in all but three games a year ago ... for her well-decorated Spartan career, Clouden has now scored in double-figures in 64 of 77 career games played ... Clouden's 28 points Thursday led MSU, as she has topped the Green & White in the scoring column in 12 of the 14 games this season, as well as a total of 34 times for her career.

• Clouden vaults up from No. 26 to No. 23 on MSU's career scoring list, as Thursday's 28 points gives her 1,109 points, passing Bella Engen (1994-98) with 1,099 points, former teammate Jenna Allen (2015-19) with 1,098 points and Becky Cummings (1997-2001) with 1,108 points ... next up is No. 22 Julie Polakowski (1982-86) with 1,143 points.

• With a team-leading five assists Thursday, Clouden has now dished out five or more helpers in seven games ... Clouden's five assists gives her 292 for her career, needing just eight more for the 300-assists plateau ... the 292 assists moves Clouden up to No. 17 on MSU's career assists list, passing Maxann Reese (1996-2000) with 291 helpers ... next up is Clouden's former graduate assistant, Kalisha Keene (2007-11), with 300 assists.

• Junior forward Alisia Smith tallied double-figures for the third time in her four starts with 10 points Thursday, doing so in 19 at Wisconsin (1/24/21) and 17 at Indiana (1/31/21), as well as her fourth time this season, adding 15 at Purdue (1/3/21) ... Smith's 10 points was her first double-digit outing at home, with a new season-high at home, topping her previous home high of nine points vs. Oakland (12/22/20) in her Spartan debut, as she had scored just 14 points in the three home contests prior to Thursday night.

• Clouden and Smith led a full team effort in which a total of 11 different Spartans scored of the 12 players to see the court ... a total of nine different players scored five points or more.

• Michigan State unveiled a new starting five Thursday night of junior guard Nia Clouden, junior guard Janai Crooms, sophomore guard/forward Julia Ayrault, sophomore guard Moira Joiner and junior forward Alisia Smith ... it was the first time this season with that starting five and is the fifth different starting lineup for the Spartans.

• Clouden is still the only Spartan to have started all 14 games this season ... Clouden started for the 77th time in her career in playing in her 77th career game.

• Crooms and Smith both made their fourth starts in a row of their Spartan career, as the duo both transferred to MSU from Ohio State and Penn State, respectively, in the offseason ... Crooms played in her 12th game in a Green & White jersey, while Smith was playing in her eighth Spartan game on Thursday.

• Ayrault started the 11th game of her career, all coming this season, and playing in her 42nd career game.

• Joiner made her first start since game three, 12/2/20 at Minnesota, after starting the first three games of the season ... Thursday was Joiner's 29th career start in playing in her 43rd career game.

• Redshirt-senior Mardrekia Cook played in her 97th career game Thursday, just three away from her 100th game.

• Michigan State had three double-digit runs with a 13-0 spurt and 14-0 run in the first half, along with a 10-0 run in the second half ... in the first quarter after Illinois took a 4-2 lead, the Spartans then scored the next 13 unanswered for a 15-2 lead ... in the second quarter, the Illini closed to 28-23, then the Spartans reeled off 14-straight for a 42-23 advantage ... the fourth quarter started with the scoreboard reading 63-49 and MSU tallied 10 in a row.

• Sophomore forward Taiyier Parks swiped half of MSU's 10 steals on the nights, as Parks' five steals was a new career-high, topping previous mark of four, done twice, last vs. Northwestern (1/23/20) and topping previous season-high of three vs. Saint Francis (11/27/20).

• Ayrault tied her career-high with three blocks Thursday night, marking the second time this season (last vs. Northern Illinois, 12/20/20) and the fifth time in her career ... Thursday was Ayrault's 10th game with at least one block and also the seventh game with multiple blocks, as she now has 19 blocks in 14 games played (1.4 blocks per game).

• Ayrault also led MSU with nine rebounds, matching her season-high in a Big Ten game, with nine vs. Iowa (12/12/20), as well as her most in the last eight games with her previous high during that stretch of four boards, with just 15 boards in those previous seven games (2.1 rpg) since nine vs. Oakland (12/22/20).

• Thursday was just the third time this season that Ayrault led MSU in rebounding, as the Spartans are now 3-0 this season when she leads the team on the glass, as well as the 10th time in her career, with MSU moving to 7-3 when she's the team's top rebounder.

• MSU has been stymied and held under 70 in the last two contests and three of the last four, after topping 70 in the first nine games of the season, but busted out of that skien with 81 points Thursday ... the Green & White have now won 156 of their last 176 games (.886) when scoring at least 70 points, and the Spartans are 174-29 (.857) under head coach Suzy Merchant when hanging at least 70 points on the scoreboard ... the Spartans are now 10-1 this season when reaching the 70-point mark with the only loss coming against Maryland on Jan. 7 ... MSU also topped the 80-point mark for the second time in last four games as part of the eighth time on the season with 81 points Thursday.

• The Spartans led 75-51 with 5:00 left in the game, as MSU has won 219 of its last 232 games (.944) when leading with five minutes left, including 169 of the last 184 ... in Coach Merchant's tenure, Michigan State is 254-19 (.930) when holding a lead with five minutes left ... this season, MSU is 10-0 when leading with five minutes remaining.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Alisia Smith

Janai Crooms

Julia Ayrault

Players Mentioned

Jenna Allen

Julia Ayrault

Nia Clouden

Mardrekia Cook

Janai Crooms

Moira Joiner

Taiyier Parks

Alisia Smith