No. 20 Michigan State Falls to Wisconsin, Losing First Game of the Season

MADISON, Wis. - No. 20 Michigan State women's basketball dropped its first game of the season in its Big Ten opener, 78-64, at Wisconsin Sunday night at the Kohl Center.

Michigan State falls to 8-1 and 0-1 in the Big Ten with the loss. Wisconsin improves to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in league contests. The Spartans played their second-straight game without senior guard Theryn Hallock, who is out with an injury.

For the first time this season, Michigan State had only two players reach double figures led by redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair, who scored 16 points to go along with seven assists and seven rebounds. Senior forward Isaline Alexander scored 12 points with seven rebounds.

MSU is now 21-23 in Big Ten openers, including 1-2 under head coach Robyn Fralick.

Wisconsin was led by Gift Uchenna and Kyrah Daniels, who both scored 14 points.

The Badgers scored the first 10 points of the first quarter before a Rashunda Jones bucket got MSU on the scoreboard. The Spartans used an 8-0 run to take their first lead 15-14 with under two minutes left in the period. MSU kept the Badgers off the board for over three minutes during the run. Wisconsin led after the first 10 minutes, 18-15.

In the second quarter, senior forward Grace VanSlooten returned after leaving after getting cut around the eye. Upon return, she immediately converted a steal to an easy bucket to make it an 18-17 game. The Spartans then went over four minutes without a field goal, missing five-straight field goals. With Wisconsin on top, 35-28, after 20 minutes, this was the first time that Michigan State trailed at halftime all season.

Michigan State also faced its first double-digit deficit of the season after Wisconsin used a 6-0 run to take a 49-39 lead, leading to an MSU timeout with 3:47 left in the third period. A Juliann Woodard trey with 38 seconds left on the third quarter clock cut it to 55-51 after the Badgers led by as many as 12 in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Spartans got it down to one possession at 61-58 with 6:44 to go on an Alexander basket, before the Badgers responded with a 6-0 run in 33 seconds to take a 67-58 lead. Wisconsin used another 6-0 run to seal the victory, as MSU went over three minutes without scoring.

Alexander was excellent for Michigan State in the second half, scoring 11 points with three boards in the final 20 minutes.

After the Spartans complete exams this week on campus, Michigan State returns to the road to take on DePaul on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes

• Michigan State was dealt defeat for the first time this season after starting 8-0 for the third-straight season under head coach Robyn Fralick and are now 8-1 with the loss.

• After the scored 90 or more points in their first six games, the Spartans have been limited under 90 for the last three games, after 85 in the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship semifinal win over Temple (85-50), and the 72-64 win over Clemson in the final of their two-game tournament action in Nassau, Bahama, before Sunday's season-low of 64 points.

• MSU only made five 3-pointers, which is also a season-low, after the previous low of six done twice before, most recently last time out vs. Clemson (11/30/25) and also six vs. Western Michigan (11/16/25) . . . the Spartan defense yielded a season-high 11 treys by Wisconsin, the first time an opponent has made double-figures from distance, after the previous top mark of six 3-pointers by the opposition, done four previous times, most recently by Clemson (11/30/25).

• Sunday evening was the first and only meeting this season between the Spartans and Badgers . . . it was MSU's first visit to Madison since March 3, 2024 . . . Sunday's loss snapped a three-game win streak for the Spartans, and MSU has still won seven of the last nine and 19 of the last 21 meetings . . . Wisconsin's win cut Michigan State's all-time series lead to 51-28 and the series is now tied at 20-20 in games at Madison, snapping MSU's four-game win streak at the Kohl Center . . . Sunday was the first time that MSU and Wisconsin met in their respective Big Ten openers.

• After the Spartans had at least four players net double-figures in the first four games on the season, they only had three players in double-figures for the next four-straight games, before a season-low two players in double-figures on Sunday . . . redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair led MSU with 16 points and redshirt-junior forward Isaline Alexander added 12 points.

• With the team-high 16 points, Blair led MSU in scoring for the second game in a row and the third time this season . . . Blair posted double-figures also for the second-straight game and third in the last four contests, as part of the fifth total time this season and eighth of her career.

• Blair also distributed a team-high seven assists to log her fourth game in a row with five or more helpers, as part of her seventh game this season with a five or more assists.

• Alexander's 12 points was just her second double-figure scoring outing of the season, joining her career-high 20 points vs. Western Michigan (11/16/25).

• Blair and Alexander shared top honors for the on the glass with seven rebounds each.

• It was Blair's third time leading or sharing top rebounding honors this season, while it was Alexander's first time.

• The seven boards was Blair's sixth game with five or more boards.

• With the seven boards, Alexander registered a new season-high, topping her previous top mark of the season of six boards in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst (11/4/25).

• MSU was out-rebounded for just the fourth time out of the nine games . . . the Spartans also swiped a season-low steals for the third-straight game, after eight steals in the Temple game (11/28/25), MSU only had seven steals against Clemson (11/30/25), and then just four steals on Sunday, after Michigan State entered Sunday leading the Big Ten and ranking sixth in the NCAA in steals at 16.1 spg.

• By being held to just six points, senior forward Grace VanSlooten was held to not only a season-low scoring outing, but limited to single digits for the first time this season and having a streak of 27-games in a row in double-figures halted . . . VanSlooten has still scored 10+ points in 27 of the last 28 games, including netting double-digits in 37 of her last 40 games played as a Spartan, being held to single digits twice last season, and she also missed one game due to illness.

No. 20 Michigan State Falls to Wisconsin, Losing First Game of the Season

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Team Stats

Kennedy Blair

Isaline Alexander

Rashunda Jones

Marah Dykstra

Players Mentioned

Isaline Alexander

Kennedy Blair

Theryn Hallock

Rashunda Jones

Grace VanSlooten

Juliann Woodard