Michigan State women's basketball (22-8, 12-6 Big Ten) earned the nine seed in the Albany 1 region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Spartans will face the No. 8 seeded Tar Heels of North Carolina (19-12, 11-7 ACC) in Columbia, South Carolina. The game is set to tip off at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, March 22.
MSU returns to the tournament after a two-year hiatus, last earning a bid in 2021. The No. 10 seeded Spartans fell 79-72 to No. 7 seed Iowa State in the first round that year. It marks the 16th NCAA bid this century for Michigan State and 19th all-time.
The Spartans are 4-4 all-time as the nine seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2009 tournament saw MSU advance to the Sweet Sixteen, upsetting No. 8 Middle Tennessee State and No. 1 Duke before falling to No. 4 Iowa State. MSU has only failed to advance to the second round as the nine seed once, falling to Arizona State in 2017.
The Spartans are 1-4 all-time against the Tar Heels and enter the matchup on Friday on a one game losing streak. That most recent matchup saw MSU fall to UNC in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament with the Spartans losing 62-53 in Chapel Hill on March 25, 2014. MSU defeated UNC 72-66 in East Lansing on Dec. 3, 2009 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and lost 82-65 in Myrtle Beach on Dec. 19, 1999.
The Tar Heels enter their fifth-straight NCAA Tournament, last missing a bid in 2018. After failing to advance out of the first round in 2019 as the nine seed, and again in 2021 as the 10 seed, UNC fell as the five seed to No. 1 South Carolina in 2022 in the Sweet Sixteen, and No. 3 seeded Ohio State in the second round in 2023.
The winner of Friday's matchup between MSU and UNC will face the winner of No. 1 seed South Carolina and No. 16 seed Sacred Heart/Presbyterian.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Join the discussion on this article in our premium forums by clicking here.
You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, and Instagram.
For video content, including our Red Cedar Radar podcast, find us on YouTube and consider subscribing.
