Michigan State women’s basketball is off to a solid start in head coach Robyn Fralick’s first year at the helm. After starting the 2023-2024 campaign off 5-0, the Spartans lost their first game against Creighton on Nov. 24, but bounced back to win two out of their next three games.
The Spartans then opened Big Ten play last weekend versus Nebraska and lost 80-74, despite a fourth-quarter comeback attempt that ultimately came up short. However, Michigan State will have a chance to rebound versus Central Michigan on Dec. 17, and Richmond on Dec. 20 before an extended break. MSU will then head to Penn State and get into the thick of the Big Ten schedule on Dec. 30.
Fralick spoke to the media this week, and noted that despite the team’s solid performance thus far, rebounding could be better, and has to be better moving forward into a "tough and physical" Big Ten schedule.
The Spartans rank 156th out of 348 Division 1 teams in rebounding, grabbing on average 38 total rebounds per game. The Cornhuskers out-rebounded the Spartans 46 to 30 this past weekend, and it was likely the difference between the Spartans starting 1-0 in conference play vs. 0-1.
Fralick spoke about the team's lackluster rebounding effort, and mentioned the Spartans "kind of surged" their way back.
"The biggest thing I think we can control as a team moving forward is we have to rebound the ball better," Fralick said. "We know moving forward in Big Ten play, we’re a little undersized, and our depth has obviously changed a little bit, but we’ve got to find a way to rebound better.”
The former Bowling Green State University head coach knows what it requires to be a winner. After a couple of years rebuilding, Fralick sent the Falcons to the MAC championship game in the 2020-2021 season, marking their first appearance since 2011, in which they lost a close game to Central Michigan. For that, she was named the MAC Coach of the Year.
Prior to her time at Bowling Green, Fralick won the Division II national championship at Ashland University, in 2017 alongside a 104-3 overall record as head coach.
Fralick, who has bounced around a decent amount throughout her career, says that “anytime there’s transition, there’s challenge in that. I don’t think there’s any way to just fast forward what it takes to really build that.”
Michigan State will host Central Michigan at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, and one of the biggest storylines surrounding this game is that Kristin Haynie, head coach of the Chippewas, will be returning to East Lansing.
Haynie, who played her high school basketball at Mason High School, was an assistant on the Michigan State staff from 2018 until the end of the 2022-23 season.
Haynie also had a stellar career as a guard for the Spartans from 2001 through 2005, and is the program leader in assists and steals. Additionally, until 2017, she was the only woman to complete a triple-double (points, assists and steals) in the NCAA Tournament.
Fralick, who knows Haynie personally, says that the two played against each other in high school. As mentioned, Haynie attended Mason High School, and Fralick went to Okemos High School, and for the Lansing area, that is considered a rivalry.
Fralick spoke very highly of Haynie.
“She obviously had an incredible career here, and pro career," Fralick said about Haynie.
And through the coaching journey, she’s somebody that I’ve seen a lot out on the road recruiting and I have a lot of respect for who she is as a competitor, as a person."
And in regards to their matchup this coming Sunday, Fralick said, “It’s going to be very competitive.”
As mentioned, the Spartans will host the Chippewas on Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The game will be streamed on B1G+.
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