Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
22-8,11-7Big Ten
Illinois
21-10,9-9Big Ten
MSU’s Comeback Falls Short in Loss to Illinois at Big Ten Tournament
3/5/2026 10:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Redshirt-sophomore Kennedy Blair scored a career-high 30 points in the loss.
INDIANAPOLIS – Despite a career-high 30 points from redshirt-sophomore Kennedy Blair, the No. 7-seeded Michigan State women's basketball team fell to No. 10-seeded Illinois 71-69 in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
With the loss, Michigan State falls to 22-8, while Illinois improves to 21-10. The Illini will move on to take on No.2-seeded Iowa on Friday.
Blair was the first Spartan to reach the 30-point plateau since Julia Ayrault scored 32 against Richmond on Dec. 21, 2024. She also added six rebounds and five assists. Senior forward Grace VanSlooten scored 13 points with nine rebounds. Senior guard Jalyn Brown added 12 points for MSU.
Illinois was led by 15 points from Cearah Parchment.
The Spartan defense started strong, forcing four turnovers in the first two minutes. Michigan State scored the first six points of the game. MSU took a 10-4 lead before the Illini offense started clicking. Illinois took its first lead of the quarter after a 3-point play by Jackson with under a minute left in the period. The Illini ended the quarter with a 8-0 run to lead 20-17 after the first 10 minutes. Blair led the Spartans with eight points in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Illini led for the whole period, taking as big a lead as seven points. MSU chipped away, getting it down to a two-point game, 23-21, after a Blair bucket at the 6:14 mark. The Spartans went the final 3:09 without a field goal, as Illini went into the locker room up 36-29.
Michigan State continued to battle in the third quarter. The Spartans used a 9-0 run over 1:58 to re-take the lead 42-41 at the 4:54 mark. Illinois bounced back to take a 48-44 lead after a Jasmine Brown-Hagger trey. At the end of the period, the Illini led the Spartans, 53-48. MSU out-scored Illinois 19-17 in the quarter, led by eight points from Blair.
In the fourth quarter, Illinois' lead jumped to nine after a Destiny Jackson layup. The Spartans weren't done battling with a Brown 3-pointer and a VanSlooten bucket, making the deficit just two points with 1:59 remaining. Berry Wallace put Illinois back on top by four with 43 seconds remaining before Inés Sotelo once again within two, but MSU would get no closer.
The Spartans will now await the NCAA Tournament Selection show on Sunday, March 15 at 8 p.m.
Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes: vs. Illinois in Big Ten Tournament
• Michigan State faced Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2008, and the fifth overall time in the B1G Tournament.
• The Spartans were the No. 7 seed for the first time since the 1998-99 season and this was only the second time that Michigan State was the seventh-seed.
• MSU now has a 26-30 overall Big Ten Tournament record.
• Thursday's loss snapped MSU's three-game win streak in the series vs. Illinois, and the Spartans still lead the all-time series, 49-31, but the Illini now have a narrow, 4-3, edge in games played on a neutral court.
• The MSU starting line-up of senior forward Grace VanSlooten, senior guard Jalyn Brown, junior guard Roshunda Jones, redshirt-junior guard Kennedy Blair and sophomore forward Ines Sotelo was the Spartans' most go-to starting five, marking the 14th game opening with that quintet on the court at tipoff ... MSU is now 8-6 with those five, collecting both the most wins by starting line-up but also the most losses of a starting line-up, and is one of eight different starting fives the Spartans have used this season.
• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair both started for the 30th-straight game, and are the only two Spartans to start all 30 contests.
• Junior guard Rashunda Jones made her 27th start of the season, senior guard Jalyn Brown made her 17th start of the season and sophomore forward Ines Sotelo started for the 18th time this season.
• MSU suffered its first loss on a neutral court this season, now 4-1 . . . the Spartans are 11-4 at home and 7-3 in true road games.
• Three Spartans scored in a double-figures, marking the 14th time that three MSU players scored 10+ points, the most of any amount of players in double-digits and Michigan State is now 8-6 when doing so.
• Redshirt-junior guard Kennedy Blair netted a career-high 30 points, becoming the first Spartan with 30 points in a game since former teammate Julia Ayrault had 32 points vs. Richmond on Dec. 21, 2024.
• Blair's 30 points tops her previous career-high of 25 points earlier this season vs. Oakland (11/23/25).
• Blair bounced back in scoring in double-figures after being held to just seven points in the regular-season finale vs. Ohio State (3/1/26) , which was just the seventh game in single-digits . . . Blair's 30 points Thursday night was Blair's 23rd double-figure outing of the season in the 30 games and the 27th double-figure game of her career.
• Blair dished out five assists, improving her single-season total to 162, moving up to No. 6 on MSU's single-season assists list, passing Tori Jankoska's 160 assists in 2016-17.
• The five assists Thursday gives Blair 184 for her career, now under 100 helpers 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 3.68 apg (184 assists in 50 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.
• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten registered 13 points and nine rebounds, just missing a double-double and marking the fourth time this season that she's had nine rebounds and double-figure points.
• VanSlooten's 13 points was her 16th double-figure scoring outing in the last 17 games as part of the 28th time out of the 30 games this season . . . VanSlooten has posted 10+ points in 56 of 61 total games as a Spartan and in 111 out of 124 total games in her collegiate career, with 57 double-figure scoring outings during her two seasons at Oregon.
• VanSlooten pulled down nine rebounds, as she has 11 games with five or more boards out of the last 12 contests . . . the senior forward has corralled five or more boards a total of 22 games out of the 30 games this season, including doing so in 14 of the last 17 games and 15 of the last 19 contests.
• With three assists Thursday night, VanSlooten has dished out three or more helpers in each of the last four games as part of 10 of the last 11 games, and 11 of the last 13 contests, as part of 16 overall games.
• VanSlooten also swiped three steals, tying her high for a B1G game for the fourth time this season, all coming in the last 11 games . . . overall it was her 16th game with multiple steals.
• Senior guard Jalyn Brown tallied 12 points to register double-figures in four of the last five games as part of eight of the last 10 contests . . . overall, it was Brown's 17th double-figure outing of the season.
• Brown netted two 3-pointers for her fourth game with multiple 3-pointers out of the last five and the eighth game this season with multiple 3-pointers.
• 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 seven games this season with five or more boards, including seven contests with seven or more rebounds.
