Michigan State women's basketball now knows which opponents it will play and where it will be facing them for the season when Big Ten play begins. The league office released the opponent matchups for the upcoming 2023-2024 season on Thursday morning.
The Spartans will look to improve on a 7-10 conference record last season when Big Ten play begins under first-year head coach Robyn Fralick.
The women will play an 18-game schedule for a third-straight season and fifth out of the past six. The 2020-2021 campaign was a 20-game league schedule as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season will finish on March 6 through March 10 at the 31st Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis, its second-straight year at the venue.
Michigan State will play five opponents both home and away for the 2023-2024 league schedule, facing in-state rival Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota and Rutgers twice this season. Single-game visits to the Breslin Center by Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska and Northwestern await as well, in addition to road games at Indiana, Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin.
MSU will face seven teams in 10 matchups that are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last season, including a road game at national runner-up Iowa, which returns senior guard Caitlin Clark. The Hoosiers also pose a tough road only opponent after earning a No. 1 seed in last year's tournament. Maryland is coming off an Elite Eight appearance and a No. 2 seed in last year's tournament, but will see the Spartans just once and on the Spartans' home court.
Ohio State, Michigan, and Purdue also appear on the schedule twice, and each school is coming off NCAA Tournament bids, with the Buckeyes having earned a No. 3 seed and advanced to the Elite Eight. In addition, Nebraska will also make a visit to East Lansing after coming off a WNIT run that ended with a Super 16 loss at Kansas.
Much of the schedule for the upcoming MSU season remains to be announced. Last month, DePaul did announce a home-and-home series against Michigan State beginning with a visit to Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Nov. 30 this season, with the return trip to East Lansing coming in 2024. The teams have not played one another since 2002 in the WNIT, an 87-76 MSU victory at the Breslin Center.
The announcement of opponents comes almost two months after the men's opponent pairings were announced. Last year, the men's and women's pairings were announced in successive days. For the full league pairings announced for all 14-teams, you can find the link in the tweet below from the Big Ten office.
