The Michigan State women's basketball program has released its 2024-2025 conference schedule. The Spartans will participate in 18 regular season league games for the sixth time since 2018-2019, with the lone exception being the 2020-2021 season during the COVID-19 pandemic when the conference played a 20-game schedule (although, MSU only played 15 Big Ten games).
Opponent pairings for the 2024-2025 campaign were released on May 7.
MSU's 11-game non-conference schedule was released earlier this month, including two multi-team events with the Spartans participating in the Acrisure Classic and the West Palm Beach Classic.
Michigan State will begin its league action by hosting Iowa on Dec. 15 for an early season conference game. Last winter the Spartans almost pulled off the upset over the No. 4/3 Hawkeyes in Iowa City, falling 76-73 alongside some controversial officiating.
After a return to non-conference play, MSU resumes league action with a road trip to Maryland on Dec. 29.
New Year's Day will welcome Purdue to the Breslin Center before a trip west to take on Nebraska in Lincoln on Jan. 8. Washington will then visit the Breslin Center on Jan. 12, the first of the new four conference members to face MSU.
Back-to-back road games follow at Rutgers on Jan. 15 and at Illinois on Jan. 19 before the Spartans host Penn State on Jan. 22. Just three days later, a rivalry matchup looms in Ann Arbor against Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 25.The Spartans swept the Wolverines last season, including a 70-66 victory in Ann Arbor. It was the first season sweep over UM since 2018-19.
MSU closes out the month with a matchup in East Lansing against Oregon on Jan. 30.
February begins with a trip to Northwestern on Feb. 2 before the Wolverines come to town for a rematch on Feb. 9. Thanks to the 18-game league schedule, UM is the lone conference foe MSU will face twice this season in the expanded Big Ten.
After Michigan, the Wisconsin Badgers will come to East Lansing on Feb. 12, the lone back-to-back home matchups for MSU in Big Ten play for the entire season. Sunny Los Angeles awaits that gloomy schedule fact, though, as MSU will play at UCLA on Sunday, Feb. 16 followed by at USC on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
Indiana lies on the schedule next with a visit to the Breslin Center on Feb. 23 before the month wraps up with a trip to Ohio State on Feb. 26.
Finally, the regular season will conclude on Senior Day in East Lansing when Minnesota visits on Saturday, March 1.
The Spartans are coming off a 22-9 season in head coach Robyn Fralick's debut season at MSU in 2023-2024. Michigan State went 12-6 in Big Ten action, while earning a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament, and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021 before falling to North Carolina in the first round.
Leading scorer and rebounder Julia Ayrault also returns after averaging 15.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season. Theryn Hallock returns the next most production, having averaged 11.2 points per game and is the leading returner in assists after averaging 2.6 helpers per game last year. The Spartans also added several transfer to the roster.
