EAST LANSING – Michigan State women’s basketball has been on the hunt for a ranked win all season, but their hopes were snapped in an 86-71 loss to No. 5 Ohio State on Sunday evening in the annual pink game.
“I thought it was the most disconnected basketball we’ve played on both ends of the court,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “We have a little bit of time right now to kind of zoom back in on ourselves and figure some of these things out and we gotta be able to play on the same page consistently.”
Before Sunday, the Spartans were 0-3 against ranked opponents and all three losses were by five points or less. Their last ranked win was against No. 3 Indiana on Dec. 29, 2022.
This B1G match-up was physical from tip-off. The name of the game was full-court presses and putting up a fight for the ball.
“Our full-court pressure was okay,” Fralick said. “We’ve got to do a better job finishing even after our press, getting matched up and finishing possessions.”
Turnovers were terminal in the matchup. MSU turned it over 16 times and gave OSU 27 points with those turnovers. The Spartans also lost the rebounding competition and weren’t able to keep up with the Buckeyes’ scoring.
In the paint, OSU shot 57.6% while MSU shot 43.4%. The Spartans also struggled from behind the arc, going 6-17.
“In that second quarter, that was when we had our most turnovers and they got some easy baskets,” Fralick said.
Coming into the third quarter, OSU had a 22-point advantage over MSU. It was crucial that the Spartans made adjustments for the second half of play.
The Spartans turned it over five times in the third quarter and were just playing catchup to the Buckeyes. The fourth quarter was the dagger. Once MSU got some momentum, it was too late.
For MSU, Theryn Hallock led the way with 18 points and fought until the final seconds of the game.
“Regardless of score there’s a pride to play in the right way,” Fralick said. “There’s a pride to getting better and I thought Theryn engaged in that. You can feel any way you want about a score, but the reality is when you get to play, you get a chance to get better at things and get better habits.”
Up next, MSU will travel to Ann Arbor to take on its rival Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 18 with tip-off set for 12 p.m. ET.
