Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
22-6,11-6Big Ten
No. 23/23 Minnesota
21-7,12-5Big Ten
Brown’s 20 Points Leads No. 18/16 MSU Past No. 23/23 Minnesota
2/22/2026 9:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Spartans halted the Gophers nine-game win streak.
MINNEAPOLIS – Behind a 20-point performance from senior guard Jalyn Brown, the No. 18/16 Michigan State women's basketball team spoiled Senior Night for No. 23/23 Minnesota with a 75-61 win on Sunday at Williams Arena.
Brown's 20-point game was her third 20-point performance of the season. Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. Off the bench, freshman guard Amy Terrian scored 11 points, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Senior forward Grace VanSlooten added 10 points and six rebounds.
Minnesota was led by a game-high 29 points from Tori McKinney.
The Spartans halted the Gophers nine-game winning streak, as MSU improved to 22-6 overall and 11-6 in B1G play. Minnesota is now 21-7 overall and 12-5 in conference action. It was MSU's fourth ranked win of the season, the most by the Spartans since the 2018-19 season.
MSU's defense held Minnesota to just 61 points, and only UCLA held Minnesota to fewer points in a home Big Ten game, when the Bruins held the Gophers to 58 points in a 76-58 win by the then-No.3 Bruins on Jan. 14. The Spartan defense also held the Gophers to a season-low 33.3 field goal percentage, as well as only 23 field goals (23-of-69), their fewest made field goals in a home game.
Amaya Battle scored the first six points for the Gophers, as Minnesota jumped to an early 6-4 lead. The Spartans went over three minutes without scoring before a basket by junior guard Rashunda Jones. Minnesota used a 6-0 run to make it a 14-6 game with under two minutes left in the quarter. A steal and a score from Blair cut into the deficit, but MSU trailed after the first period, 16-10.
In the second quarter, the Spartans scored the first four of the period, but then Minnesota scored eight-straight over 1:04 to take its first double-digit lead at 24-14. MSU battled back with an 8-0 run of its own to make it a 24-22 game, leading to a Minnesota timeout at the 4:44 mark. Behind a combined 14 points from Blair and Brown, MSU only trailed 36-34 at the half.
Minnesota scored the first six points of the third quarter before a VanSlooten layup made it a 42-36 Gopher lead. Terrian's second-straight trey tied the game at 46-46 at the 4:07 mark. The Spartans kept battling and used a 9-0 run to take a 55-48 advantage. Minnesota shot only 25 percent in the quarter. MSU out-scored Minnesota, 24-13 in the period.
In the fourth quarter, a Terrian jumper gave MSU its first double-digit lead 60-49. Minnesota used a 7-0 run to close to 62-56 with under seven minutes left. The Gophers did not score over the final 4:45, as MSU ended the game on an 8-0 run to seal the victory.
The Spartans return home for their regular-season finale against No. 10 Ohio State on Sunday, March 1 at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcast on BTN.
Michigan State Post-Game Notes: at No. 23/23 Minnesota
• Sunday's win over No. 23/23 Minnesota was Michigan State's fourth win over a ranked opponent, for the most wins over ranked opponents since 2018-19.
• Overall, the match-up with No. 23/23 Minnesota was the Spartans' ninth ranked battle of the season . . . Michigan State is now 4-5 vs. ranked opponents, starting with a neutral court win over No. 15/15 Ole Miss, 66-49 (12/22/25 in Cherokee, North Carolina), a road win at No. 23/23 Washington, 82-67, a home win over No. 24/RV Nebraska, 73-71 (1/15/26) and Sunday's win over No. 23/23 Minnesota (2/22/26) . . . MSU has losses at No. 11/13 Iowa, 75-68 (1/18/25), home loss vs. No. 9/9 Michigan, 94-91 in OT (2/1/26), a home loss to No. 22/19 Maryland, 86-70 (1/4/26), an 86-63 home loss to No. 2/2 UCLA, and at loss at No. 7/7 Michigan (2/15/26).
• MSU not only snapped Minnesota's nine-game win streak, but the Spartan defense held the Gophers to 61 points, 15.1 points below their overall season average and 14.4 ppg below their conference games average . . . also, only UCLA held Minnesota to fewer points in a home Big Ten game, when the Bruins held the Gophers to 58 points in a 76-58 win by the then-No.3 Bruins.
• The Spartan defense held the Gophers to a season-low 33.3 field goal percentage as well as only 23 field goals (23-of-69), their fewest made field goals in a home game . . . MSU limited Minnesota to 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from 3-point range, the Gophers' second-lowest home shooting total from distance, behind 23.5 percent (4-of-17) that UCLA held Minnesota to.
• Michigan State redshirt-junior forward Isaline Alexander returned to action for the first time in the 2026 portion of the season, as she had not played in the previous 14 games after being injured in MSU's game vs. Rutgers on Dec. 28, 2025.
• For the second game in a row, Michigan State had a different starting line-up than the prior game, after starting the same way for the previous 13 games . . . to start Sunday's game at Minnesota, MSU rolled out it's seventh different starting five . . . the Spartan started the quintet of junior guard Sara Sambolić, redshirt-junior forward Isaline Alexander, senior forward Grace VanSlooten, senior forward Jalyn Brown and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair.
• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair both started for the 28th-straight game, and are now the only two Spartans to start all 28 contests.
• Brown made her 14th start . . . Alexander started for the first time since her last action on Dec. 28 vs. Rutgers and her third overall start . . . Sambolić made her second-straight start in a Big Ten game and only her third overall start this season, also being on the court for the opening tip-off on Dec. 21, 2025 vs. Indiana State at the Cherokee Invitational at Cherokee, N.C.
• Junior guard Rashunda Jones missed Wednesday's game vs. Northwestern to snap her streak of starting the previous 26 games of the season, and she returned to action Sunday, coming off the bench.
• MSU's 75 points was its second game in a row topping 70 points after two games in a row under 70 . . . Michigan State improved to 21-2 when netting 70 or more points.
• The Spartan defense held the Gophers to 61 points, marking the second-straight game in holding the opposition under 70 points, and the 18th total time this season, moving to 18-0 this season in holding opponents under 70 points.
• Sunday was Michigan State's first win in Minneapolis since Dec. 9, 2020 . . . overall, it was the Spartans' third-straight win over the Gophers and fourth in the last five meetings . . . MSU has now won seven of the last nine meetings . . . the Spartans have now doubled-up their lead over the Gophers in the all-time series, 50-25, and take a narrow, 18-17 lead in games played in Minneapolis.
• MSU improved to 7-3 in true road games, including 6-3 in Big Ten road action . . . the Spartans are 11-3 at home and 4-0 on neutral courts.
• Four Spartans posted double-digit points, marking the ninth game this season with four score 10+ points, and MSU is now 9-0 with four players in double-figures.
• Senior guard Jalyn Brown led the way with 20 points, followed by 18 points by redshirt-junior guard Kennedy Blair . . . freshman guard Amy Terrian tallied 11 points off the bench, while senior forward Grace VanSlooten added 10 points.
• Senior guard Jalyn Brown's 20 points was her third 20-point outing of the season.
• Brown has scored in double-figures in the last three games as part of seven of the last eight contests and 16 total games this season.
• The senior guard Brown netted two 3-pointers for the third-straight game, as well as the fourth time in the last seven games . . . overall, Brown now has seven games this season with multiple triples.
• Redshirt-junior guard Kennedy Blair netted 18 points for her ninth game in a row in double-digits, tallying 10+ points in 15 of the last 16 games, 19 of the last 21 as part of a total of 22 times out of the 28 games this season . . . Blair has also logged double-digits in 26 games in her career.
• Blair also dished out a game-high six assists, giving her 153 helpers for the season, vaulting up to No. 8 on MSU's single-season assists, passing Deb Traxinger with 148 assists in 1979-80 and just behind former teammate DeeDee Hagemann with 156 in 2023-24.
• Now with 175 assists for her career, Blair is still over 100 away from cracking into MSU's Career Top 20 Assists List, as Carlotta Taylor (1986-90) holds the No. 20 mark with 283 helpers.
• However, Blair's career assists average of 3.6 apg (175 assists in 48 career games), holds at No. 13 on MSU's Career Assists Per Game List, sandwiched in between a pair of Spartan greats in passing Shay Colley (2017-20) with 3.5 apg and just behind Tori Jankoska (2013-17) with 3.7 apg.
• Additionally, Blair swiped five steals on Sunday, marking her second-straight game with five swipes and tying her season-high for fourth time this season . . . Blair also registered her fifth-straight game with multiple steals and now has 13 games this season with three or more steals.
• Blair also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, as she has snared five or more boards in the last 21-straight games as part of in 25 of the 28 games this season.
• Freshman guard Amy Terrian tallied 11 points for a new scoring high in a Big Ten game and only her second double-figure scoring outing this season.
• Terrian netted three 3-pointers, giving her 11 treys in the last five games . . . it was her second game with three triples in that span with three treys at Penn State (2/7/26) . . . Terrian has made multiple triples in each of the last three games as part of her seventh game this season with multiple 3-pointers, including the third game with three or more, behind her season-high five in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst (11/4/25).
• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten tallied 10 points for her 14th double-figure scoring outing in the last 15 games as part of the 35th total time out of the 28 games this season . . . she has netted 10+ points in 54 of 59 total games as a Spartan and in 109 out of 122 total games in her collegiate career, with 55 double-figure scoring outings during her two seasons at Oregon.
• VanSlooten pulled down six rebounds, as she has nine games with five or more boards out of the last 10 contests . . . the senior forward has corralled five or more boards a total of 20 games out of the 28 games this season, including doing so in 12 of the last 15 games and 13 of the last 17 contests.
• Sophomore forward Ines Sotelo snared seven rebounds, giving her 16 boards in the last two games after a career-high nine rebounds last time out vs. Northwestern (2/18/26) . . . Sotelo now has six games this season with five or more boards, including six with seven or more rebounds.
• Senior guard Emma Shumate netted one 3-pointer, and has now drained at least one triple in 24 of the 28 games this season
• With the one triples, Shumate now has 57 3-pointers on the season as part of 63 total field goals . . . Shumate's 57 3-pointers this season continues her top single-single mark of her career, topping the 44 treys last season . . . Shumate now has 101 3-pointers during her two-year Spartan career and 141 total 3-pointers in her collegiate career after 40 during her two seasons at Ohio State.
• Shumate's 101 career 3-pointers as a Spartan cracks MSU's Career 3-Pointers List, tying Jamie Wesley (1994-98) for the No. 20 spot with 101 3-pointers.
• For her MSU career, Shumate is now 101-of-245, good for 41.2 percent, which currently is No. 1 on the Spartans' Career 3-Point List, topping Lindsay Bowen (2002-06) at 40.1 percent (294-of-734).
• Shumate's 57 3-pointers is just 12 shy of cracking the Top 10 of MSU's single-season 3-pointers list, as Matilda Ekh currently has the No. 9 and 10 spots with 69 3-pointers in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
• The Spartan sharp-shooter Shumate's current 3-point percentage of 42.2 percent (57-of-135) is currently No. 3 on MSU's single-season 3-pointers list, trailing Lindsay Bowen (2002-03) at 46.4 percent (77-of-166) and Moira Joiner (2023-24) at 44.2 percent (80-of-181) . . . Shumate also currently holds the tied for No. 7 spot at 40.0 percent (44-of-110) from last season, matching Eileen Shea (1989-90) at 40.0 percent (50-of-125).
• Shumate also tied her career-high with a game-high three blocks, marking the second time with a trio of rejections, joining the Illinois game (1/4/26) and is the fifth time in her career tot tie her career-best of three blocks.
• Shumate dished out two assists to tie her season-high for the sixth time this season, last time doing so against Washington (1/8/26).
