Michigan State Travels to Rutgers Tuesday

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball returns to the road to take on Rutgers on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena. The Spartans will close out January with their fourth road game of the month. Dom Savino and Dominique Patrick will be on the call for Big Ten Plus.

• The Spartans improved to 15-5 overall and 5-4 in B1G play with an 82-61 victory over Michigan on Jan. 27. Michigan State has won two-straight games with home wins last week against Purdue and U-M. Rutgers is 9-16 overall and 0-9 in B1G play. Overall, the Scarlet Knights have lost 11-straight games.

• First-year Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick is the first Spartan head coach to post a Victory for MSU over Michigan in their first meeting since Karen Langeland's first season of 1976-77 in a 63-62 triumph on Jan. 24, 1977. Overall, Fralick is the third MSU head coach to do so, joining inaugural head coach Mikki Baile in the first-ever meeting between the Spartans and Wolverines on Feb. 3, 1973.

• With a win against Michigan, MSU has now won its fifth-straight home game in improving to 10-1 at home this season, moving to one win shy of matching last year's win total of 11 wins in going 11-6 at the Breslin Center.

• Saturday was DeeDee Hagemann's team-leading fourth 20-point game of the season, as MSU is 4-0 this season and 5-0 in her career when she scores 20+ points. The Spartans are also 6-1 when Hagemann leads them in the scoring.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights 6-16 overall and 0-9 in Big Ten games. Overall, Rutgers has lost 11-straight games. RU's last win was a 98-67 win over LaSalle at home on Dec. 5. Much like the Spartans, the Scarlet Knights have faced injuries and a short bench this season. Awa Sidibe is out for the season for the season, while Kaylene Smikle has been out since December.

Last time out, Rutgers fell to Wisconsin, 73-62, on Jan. 27, despite a strong fourth-quarter comeback. The Scarlet Knights made a run in the final minutes of the game, coming back from a 19 points to put the game within four points but it wasn't enough as the Badgers ended strong to pull out the victory.

Rutgers is 13th in the Big Ten in scoring offense (67.3) and 12th in scoring defense (71.5). The Scarlet Knights are seventh in rebound margin (+2.64), just ahead of Michigan State.

Individually, Destiny Adams is 15th in the league in scoring, averaging 14.3 ppg. Chyna Cornwell is fifth in rebounding with 8.0 rpg. Antonia Bates is third in the Big Ten in blocks just behind Julia Ayrault, averaging 1.67 bpg.

Rutgers head coach Coquese Washington is in her second season at the helm of the Scarlet Knights, posting a 18-36 record. Overall, Washington is in her 14th season as a collegiate head coach, amassing a 227-205 ledger. She spent 12 season as the head coach at Penn State.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Michigan State holds an 8-6 series lead in the brief history between the two teams. The Spartans have won four of the last four meetings, including the last two. MSU leads the series at home 5-3 in Eat Lansing, while hold a slight edge in Piscataway, 3-3. Last season in East Lansing, Michigan State came out on top, 85-63. The last time the Scarlet Knights won in East Lansing was on Feb. 24, 2021 with a 63-53 win.

LAST TIME VS RUTGERS
With alumni and Title IX trailblazers in the stands, the Michigan State women's basketball team celebrated pioneers with a wire-to-wire win over Rutgers, 85-63, on Jan. 22, 2022 at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans celebrated both Alumni Day and Title IX throughout the game. Michigan State honored all women athletes who set the path for current Spartans, as well as honoring women's basketball alumni during half time.

Michigan State snapped its four-game losing streak with the win. The Spartans got contributions for nearly everyone who played with 11 for the 15 players that saw action scoring at least on three points. Michigan State had four players in double figures led by senior forward Taiyier Parks who scored 14 points with seven rebounds off the bench.

HISTORY HAS ITS EYE ON YOU
First-year Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick is the first Spartan head coach to post a Victory for MSU over Michigan in their first meeting since Karen Langeland's first season of 1976-77 in a 63-62 triumph on Jan. 24, 1977. Overall, Fralick is the third MSU head coach to do so, joining inaugural head coach Mikki Baile in the first-ever meeting between the Spartans and Wolverines on Feb. 3, 1973.

BY THE NUMBERS VS. MICHIGAN
• MSU was 29-of-34 at the free throw line Saturday afternoon ... the 29 made free throws is the most in a B1G game and ties the overall season-high for the third time, tying games vs. Miami (Ohio) (12/3/23) and vs. Coastal Carolina (12/21/23) also making 29. The 34 free throw attempts was also a B1G-high and the second-most overall on the season, behind 35 in the Coastal Carolina contest.

• Saturday's attendance of 9,385 was the largest of the season.

• Michigan State scored 82 points on U-M's defense, as the Wolverines came into Saturday's game leading the B1G in scoring defense at 58.8 ppg. MSU's 82 points ties U-M's season-high for points allowed of 82 points vs. Florida on Dec. 20 in an 82-65 loss and vs. Minnesota on Jan. 9 in an 82-66 loss. Saturday's 21-point margin ties U-M's most in a B1G loss, matching an 80-59 loss at No. 14 Indiana on Jan. 4, and tied for the second-most overall behind a 69-46 loss at Toledo on Dec. 6.

WIRE-TO-WIRE
MSU led from start-to-finish against Purdue on Jan. 24, 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. The Spartans came close to a wire-to-wire win against Michigan, but the Wolverines led for 22 seconds.

BOUNCING BACK
Michigan State has had a history of bouncing back after losses this season. After the Spartans previous five losses, MSU has rebounded with a vengeance. Four of the five wins after losses have been by 18 points or more.

GETTING IN THE LINEUP
The MSU starting five of junior guard DeeDee Hagemann, sophomore guard Abbey Kimball junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, graduate guard Moira Joiner and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault for Saturday's game was the 10th-straight game with that starting line-up. Overall, it's the 17th game this season that the Green & White have had that starting five on the court for tipoff. MSU improves to 12-5 with those five starting the contest. The only other two Spartans to start this season are sophomore guard Theryn Hallock and junior forward Isaline Alexander.

PUTTING IN THE MINUTES
Due to significant injuries this season, the Spartans have been forced to play with nine players for much of the season. Many MSU players have been logging in a lot of minutes so far this year. Moira Joiner is 13th in the Big Ten in minutes played, averaging 31.2 mpg. DeeDee Hagemann is second with 30.2 mpg, while Theryn Hallock is third in minutes off the bench with 25.2 mpg, while Abbey Kimball is fourth with 25.1 mpg. MSU has seven players who are averaging over 20 minutes per game.

MOVIN' ON UP
Several Spartans are moving up the MSU record books. With one block Saturday, Ayrault now has 47 rejections this season through 19 games, the most in a single-season since 2009-10 when Allyssa DeHaan had 101 rejections. The 47 blocks holds the No. 8 spot on MSU's single-season top 10 list, needing just three more for the No. 7 spot of 50 blocks by Kelli Roehrig (2004-05).

Graduate guard Moira Joiner now has 178 made 3-pointers and still stands sixth all-time. Even though she is just a junior, guard DeeDee Hagemann already has 377 career assists. By dishing out two assists against Michigan, Hagemann now has 377 helpers for her career, holding the No. 11 spot on the Spartans' career assists list, but needs just four more to crack the top 10 as Kim Archer (1983-88) holds the No. 10 spot with 381 helpers.

FRALICK HITS MILESTONE
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick reached a career milestone with a win against CMU on Dec. 17. She captured her 200th career win, now holding a 207-81 career record in eight seasons as a head coach at Ashland, Bowling Green and Michigan State.

AYRAULT SWATTING HER WAY INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
With one block Saturday, graduate guard Julia Ayrault now has 47 rejections this season through 20 games, the most in a single-season since 2009-10 when Allyssa DeHaan had 101 rejections. The 47 blocks holds the No. 8 spot on MSU's single-season top 10 list, needing just three more for the No. 7 spot of 50 blocks by Kelli Roehrig (2004-05).

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT HER...JOINER
Graduate guard Moira Joiner topped the 1,000 career point mark with a 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark for her fifth point of the game against Purdue on Jan. 24. 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 now 1,021 career points which puts her 29th all-time in the MSU record books. She is just 13 points away from tying Brenda Jezowski (1980-85) with 1,034 points.

With one 3-pointer in Saturday's game, Joiner now has 51 on the season, not only the most in a season of her career, but needing just 17 more to reach MSU's single-season top 10 list, as Tori Jankoska (2014-15) and Lindsay Bowen (2005-06) are tied for the No. 9 spot with 68 3-pointers. The one triple gives Joiner 178 career 3-pointers, holding solid at the No. 6 spot on MSU's career 3-pointers list, Joiner needs just five more for the No. 5 spot held by Kalisha Keane (2007-11) with 183 treys.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE LAND
The Spartans are 14th in the nation field goal percentage, shooting 47.9 percent from the field. Michigan State is also ninth in the country in assists per game, averaging 19.6 apg. They are also first in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.78). The Spartans high-flying offense currently stands 15th in the nation in scoring margin, as well (+20.1). MSU is currently seventh in the nation in 3-pointers made (9.2/game).

Individually, Julia Ayrault is 18th in the nation in blocks with 47 and 20th in blocks per game (2.4 bpg). DeeDee Hagemann is 18th in the country assist/turnover ratio (2.72).

HAGEMANN'S BIG NUMBERS
Against Michigan, junior guard DeeDee Hagemann had a team-leading fourth 20-point game of the season and fifth of her career, as MSU is 4-0 this season and 5-0 in her career when she scores 20+ points. The Spartans are also 6-1 when Hagemann leads them in the scoring column, along with 11-2 when she nets double-figures.

She also added a season-high seven free throws in going a perfect 7-of-7 at the charity stripe, marking her sixth game this season in making 100 percent at the free throw line when shooting two or more attempts, and eighth time overall, going 1-for-1 at the free pitch line in two contests.

AROUND THE BIG TEN
This season, Michigan State is second in the Big Ten in scoring margin (+20.1) and second in assists (19.6 apg). The Spartans are also second in the league in 3-point field goals made, averaging 9.40 per game. MSU is first in turnover margin (+7.40) and first in assist/turnover ratio (1.78).

Graduate guard Moira Joiner leads the Spartans in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game, which is 10th, while graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is 13th with 14.7 ppg. Ayrault is also sixth in rebounding with 7.6 rpg. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann is eighth in the league in assists, averaging 4.6 apg and first in assist/turnover ratio (2.9). Joiner is fourth in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (.398). Ayrault is also second in the conference in blocks, averaging 2.4 bpg, behind Wisconsin's Serah Williams.

DID YOU KNOW?
Junior forward Jocelyn Tate tallied 12 of her 14 points in the first half, logging double-digits for the first time in a B1G game this season and the first time overall in the last nine games. Tate's 14 points was her second-most of the year behind her season-high 17 points vs. Richmond (12/17/23), posting 10+ points for the fifth total time this season.

TRIPLE-DIGIT THREATS
With a 105-66 win over Coastal Carolina on Dec. 21, MSU has now broken the triple-digit mark four times in the 10 games this season. This is the first-time ever that Michigan State has had four 100-point games in a season.

COMING NEXT YEAR
MSU head coach Robyn Fralick announced the signing of four National Letters of Intent, including Sinai Douglas, Helen Holley, Juliann Woodard (North Vernon, Indiana/Jennings County High School) and Inés Sotelo.

Douglas is a 5-4 guard, who is a native of Toledo, Ohio. She attends Toledo Start High School and is coached by Dane Franklin. Douglas is currently ranked No. 87 in the ESPNW HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.

Holley is a 6-1 forward, who is a native of Cleveland Ohio, plays for head coach Kevin Byrne at the Gilmour Academy. As a junior, she averaged 14.7 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. She captured second-team All-Ohio honors last season.

Woodard is a 6-0 forward, who is a native of North Vernon, Indiana, plays for head coach Kristi Sigler at Jennings County High School. Woodard is currently ranked No. 58 in the ESPNW HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.
Sotelo Miguez is a 6-3 forward, who is a native of Ourense, Spain. She has extensive international experience, including playing with the U18 Spanish National Team last summer in Konya, Turkey at the Eurobasket Tournament.

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick has announced guard/forward Julia Ayrault and guard Moira Joiner as team captains, as voted on by the players on the 2023-24 women's basketball team. The duo are the first captains that Michigan State has had since the 2019-20 season, when Victoria Gaines and Taryn McCutcheon were tabbed team leaders.

LAST TIME OUT
With over 9,000 fans packing the Breslin Center, the Michigan State women's basketball team celebrated Spartans past and present with an 82-61 win over Michigan on Saturday afternoon.

First-year Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick is the first Spartan head coach to post a Victory for MSU over Michigan in their first meeting since Karen Langland's first season of 1976-77 in a 63-62 triumph on Jan. 24, 1977. Overall, Fralick is the third MSU head coach to do so, joining inaugural head coach Mikki Baile in the first-ever meeting between the Spartans and Wolverines on Feb. 3, 1973.

In the first quarter, Michigan State honored members of the 2014 Big Ten Championship team, while all Spartan women's basketball alumni were honored at halftime. All-American and WNBA first- round draft pick Aerial Powers was on hand to celebrate the 2014 squad.

The Spartans have now won two-straight games to improve to 15-5 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten action. Michigan falls to 14-7 overall and 5-4 in league play. MSU improved to 10-1 at home so far this season and are just one win away from tying last season's home win total. In 2022-23, MSU was 11-6 at the Breslin Center. MSU was able to snap a three-game losing streak to the Wolverines, while stretching its all-time series lead to 74-25.

Overall, four Spartans reached double figures in the victory. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann scored a team-high 20 points, along with four rebounds. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was just one rebound shy of a double-double with a 19 points and nine rebounds, while junior guard Jocelyn Tate scored 14 points with four boards. Graduate guard Moira Joiner added 12 points, five rebound and a season-high five assists.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Isaline Alexander

Julia Ayrault

DeeDee Hagemann

Theryn Hallock

Moira Joiner

Abbey Kimball

Taiyier Parks

Jocelyn Tate