The No. 17/19 Michigan State Spartans were looking to snap a five-game losing streak to No. 21/25 Iowa on Sunday while improving to a program best 10-0 record. Thanks to a physical and hard fought effort, MSU did just that thanks to a 68-66 victory to start Big Ten action 1-0. Four players in total, two for each team, fouled out of the game.
The 10-0 start continues to best the previous program record of 8-0 set twice in 2012-2013 and 2020-2021. It also marks a 15th-straight regular-season victory for MSU dating back to a 70-66 victory over Michigan on Feb. 18, 2024. It marks MSU's longest win streak of any kind since the 2004-2005 season when the program won 17-straight to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular-season title and go on to win the Big Ten Tournament.
The win also improves the Spartans to 21-22 all-time in the conference opener, winning eight of the past 14. It also marked the first time a ranked Michigan State team has beat a ranked opponent since the then No. 23/24 Spartans fell 88-61 to the No. 12/12 Maryland Terrapins on Jan. 7, 2021.
MSU came back from trailing by as much as nine in the third quarter to hang on for the win down the final stretch with three Spartans finishing in double figures and two fouling out. MSU held Iowa to its lowest regular season point total since a 65-58 loss to Kansas State on Nov. 16, 2023 while also scoring its lowest of the season so far, falling 10 points shy of its back-to-back 78-point performances against California and Vanderbilt in Palm Desert last month.
MSU continued with the same starting lineup it debuted against DePaul last week and its fifth different of the season. The most recent prior saw junior guard Theyrn Hallock swapped out for graduate guard Nyla Hampton.
Julia Ayrault led all scorers Sunday with 19 points, including two-for-4 from 3-point range. The graduate guard also led the Spartans in blocks with three while logging four boards. That brings Ayrault to an average of 19.3 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game over the past six games. Sunday also registered as Ayrault's third game in the past four where she had multiple blocks, totaling 150 on her career, good for third most in program history.
Junior guard Grace VanSlooten finished with 14 points and tied graduate guard Jaddan Simmons for the team high in rebounds with seven apiece. Simmons logged the team-high in offensive boards with five. That brings VanSlooten to seven-straight games with at least seven rebounds. She also matched Ines Sotelo for the team high in takeaways with three steals.
Hampton also hit double figures with 13 points. Her three assists marks at least three or more in five of the 10 games so far this season.
The Spartans held Iowa's scoring leader, senior guard Lucy Olsen, to a season low of 13 points. The Hawkeyes were instead led in scoring by junior forward Hannah Stuelke with 18 points, a season high. She led three players in double-figures scoring for Iowa.
The first two quarters on Sunday were a back and forth affair with the lead changing or being tied 15 times. Hallock tied the game up at 4:41 in the first quarter at 9-9 while the MSU defense forced five turnovers by Iowa during a four minute stretch in the opening quarter, but couldn't press its advantage to more than a narrow 11-9 lead.
Neither team led by more than five in the first half with the Spartans holding a 16-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter and Iowa managing a 33-28 lead at the buzzer to end the first half thanks to a buzzer beater from the elbow by Olsen.
Ayrault finished the half with 11 of her 19 points.
"I think it took us a while," MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said after the game in regards to Iowa's physicality. "They had 14 offensive rebounds. We just knew rebounding was such a big part of this game. I thought the first half too would be like, we would tip it and they would get the ball back. We had to do a better job of just winning the ball, win the loose ball. It would not be a jump ball, they would win it.
"The second half, we were much tougher, in crowds, loose balls, rebounding, we made a big emphasis on our guards getting more involved in defensive rebounding because we know (Hannah) Stuelke is a load, she is a really good player. She is really good at getting her own misses. I thought that the second half was much better. And when we rebound, our offense is much better. Those two, that connection, that helped us."
The third quarter has often been a struggle for Michigan State this season, and that remained the case for the Spartans on Sunday against the Hawkeyes. Iowa was able to come out of the locker room and quickly stretch its lead to eight off a 3-pointer by Olsen.
VanSlooten managed to trim the deficit to just three thanks to four-straight points that included a strong and-one finish with 7:23 left in the stanza. The Spartans trailed just 37-34 after she hit the extra point. Ball movement was and security was important in the runs Michigan State made such as that.
"I told them at halftime, we weren't moving the ball," Fralick said after the win. "It is like, we work on things all the time and when the game lights come on, you have got to be able to translate when the popcorn's popping and the game lights are on, we have to do the same thing. We harped at halftime about ball movement, we were standing still and freezing a lot. I just thought we did a much better job of moving the ball."
Just a few minutes later, Iowa was able to open up the largest lead of either team with a nine-point advantage on a 3-pointer by Kylie Feuerbach with 4:44 left in the third. MSU caught a hot streak to end the quarter, mounting a 6-0 run to close the stanza down just 52-49.
The Hawkeyes managed to push their lead right back to nine at the start of the fourth, but the Spartans finally tied it up again at 58-58 with 6:46 left and it was a nailbiter down the final stretch.
Despite MSU pulling out to as much as a seven-point lead with 3:17 left, Iowa refused to go quietly and cut it to a single-possession game in the final minute. This is also around when things got messy with the officiating crew as two mistakes occurred. The first was a missed change in possession with :41 remaining and MSU leading just 67-64. Iowa stole the ball and had clear possession before MSU stole it right back. The shot clock was not reset and MSU was blown for a violation as the team couldn't get a shot off with the one second remaining on it.
Then with :31 remaining, Taylor Stremlow committed her fifth foul on the rebound that ensued after Simmons blocked Olsen in an impressive and clutch defensive play.
However, the officials missed that it was Stremlow's fifth foul, resulting in her remaining in the game until a stoppage in play with :19 remaining. The mistake was finally caught when Jocelyn Tate fouled out for MSU and Stremlow was forced to head to the bench while her teammate, Sydney Affolter, went to the line for a pair of free throws. Affolter hit both, trimming MSU's lead to just one point.
Iowa resorted to fouling on the next defensive series for the Hawkeyes and Hallock missed the front end of a one-one-one and hit the second, but it was negated by a lane violation. That left MSU with just a 67-66 lead with 16 seconds left and Iowa in possession.
The nail biter ended with Ayrault blocking a layup by Affolter with 10 seconds remaining and then Olsen missing a jumper with just three seconds remaining after Iowa grabbed the offensive board for another try. Hampton was then fouled for MSU and hit the front end of her two free throws to push the lead out to the final margin of 68-66. With just one second remaining, that was the game from there.
"We have been in that spot a few times this season," Fralick remarked of the Spartan comeback to end the game. "It is a spot we are familiar with, I think it is a spot that still has a belief and confidence where they say that they have plenty of time. We got a few steals and a few and-ones, which I thought got us a lot of momentum. There was the middle part of the game where they were hitting a lot of threes and then they started to miss a few and we were able to get that first rebound. And when we were able to rebound, and push in transition we were able to create some good looks. It was kind of a multitude of things, I also thought Ines Sotelo, our freshman, in that second half really did some good things in our press, and got some momentum back on our side."
Missed or negated free throws down the closing stretch left fans on the edge of their seats as MSU finished the fourth quarter just four-of-8. All of those missed came in the final minute of regulation.
"We do not have to make it this hard," Fralick said of the missed free throws. "We left 11 points. And we do a good job getting to the free throw line, that is something we can consistently do this year. We made it interesting. Credit to our team, when the game was on the line, we played some really good defense. Hopefully, we do not have to make it quite as interesting."
Michigan State remains one of just nine unbeaten teams at this point and will return to non-conference action next. The Spartans will play Montana and Alabama in the West Palm Beach Classic on Dec. 19 and 20 respectively before taking a break for the holiday. Conference play will resume on Dec. 29 at Maryland.
