1/28/2023 basketball Edit

MSU Women's Basketball: Illinois Preview, Suzy Merchant to miss game

Michigan State's Kamaria McDaniel is introduced during pregame festivities ahead of MSU's home game against Wisconsin on Jan. 11, 2023 (Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated)

Kevin Knight • Spartans Illustrated

Asst. Managing Editor

Native Michigander & Hillsdale graduate who has covered MSU athletics since 2020 & fan since childhood. Lived in DC since 2011, husband to a Neb. guy, beagle dad, transportation policy work by day.

The Michigan State women's basketball team hits the road Sunday to take on the No. 22 Illinois Fighting Illini. The matchup will appear on linear television, the first game for the Spartans on live television broadcast since a home matchup against Ohio State on Dec. 11, 2022. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. Eastern Time and Jason Ross Jr. (play-by-play) and Meghan McKeown (analyst) will be on the call for the Big Ten Network.

Unfortunately, Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant was involved in a minor one-car crash due to a medical incident on Saturday morning and will miss the game. MSU did report that Merchant went to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and is in "stable condition."

Associate head coach Dean Lockwood will serve as interim head coach for the Spartans on Sunday against the Fighting Illini.

The game at Illinois marks the seventh matchup this season against a ranked opponent for MSU. It also starts a two-game road stretch with both games on linear television before the Spartans return to the Breslin Center for a Feb. 5 matchup against rival Michigan. That matchup against the Wolverines will mark the National Girls and Women in Sports Day game.

Michigan State enters Sunday's matchup after a week off following the Spartans' win over Rutgers last Sunday, Jan. 22. The 85-63 victory snapped a four-game losing streak and saw freshman Abbey Kimball step up with her first double-figure outing, scoring 13 points among a number of career-highs against the Scarlet Knights. Senior Moira Joiner and Merchant offered high praise of the freshman guard after the game.

Illinois is coming off a 62-52 home loss to Purdue on Thursday night. After starting the season with six-straight wins, the Illini sit at 16-5 overall and 6-4 in Big Ten play while going just 2-3 in the past five games. Losses to No. 6 Indiana and No. 2 Ohio State go alongside the loss to unranked Purdue.

Indiana's Chloe Moore-McNeil (22) is blocked by Illinois' Kendall Bostic (44) during the second half of the Indiana versus Illinois women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. (© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK)

The Illini are led by first-year head coach Shauna Green (172-80 career record over six seasons at Dayton and two at Loras College), but feature a familiar face this season as former Spartan Kendall Bostic is one of four players averaging double-digits in scoring. Her 10.2 points per game complements a potent offensive attack led by Makira Cook's 17.8 ppg, good for seventh in the league.

Genesis Bryant is 13th in the conference with 15.1 ppg and third in free-throw percentage at 87.1% from the line. Meanwhile, Bostic leads the conference on the glass and in shot blocking with 10.4 rebounds per game and 1.76 blocks per game.

Overall, Illinois is fifth in the league in scoring margin (+15.9). The Illini average 78.2 points per game, while holding opponents to just 63.1. It helps that Illinois is first in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage, averaging 38.7% from behind the arc, and boasts a rebounding margin of +7.9.

Moira Joiner for Michigan State moves the ball up the floor against Wisconsin on Jan. 11, 2023. (Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated)

Sunday's matchup will be the 75th all-time meeting between the two Big Ten foes with MSU holding a 46-28 series lead. Michigan State also boasts an 18-15 record in Champaign and is riding a 10-game winning streak in the series.

The Spartans won the only matchup between the two programs last season in a 75-60 home win on Dec. 9, 2021. Matilda Ekh notched a then-career-high 20 points in the victory over the Illini. The last win by Illinois in the series came in a 61-51 loss in East Lansing in 2014, and the last home win at the (now) State Farm Center for the Illini dates back to a 57-46 victory on Feb 2, 2007.