ANN ARBOR– The Crisler Center was buzzing at half with a ‘maize out’ crowd ready for No. 24 Michigan to grind out a massive rivalry victory against No. 21 Michigan State. By the final buzzer and as ‘Go green, Go white’ rang out through the rafters, the energy had long been sucked out of the building. MSU completely controlled the final 20 minutes on their way to a silencing ranked win over the Wolverines.
“There’s always a green section whenever we’re at away games but it was good to see a couple extra green shirts today,” junior guard Theryn Hallock said. “I think they were, at points, louder than the Michigan fans which always feels good.”
The win carries some historical significance for MSU, as the Spartans took the first ever ranked matchup in series history.
Both teams came into the afternoon looking for an even, physical battle and that’s just what they got. Both squads forced the opposition into six turnovers, as MSU got a taste of their own defensive chaos in the opening period.
Despite having a size advantage with junior forward Grace VanSlooten and freshman center Inés Sotelo, UM also found success inside with physicality on the glass. MSU found only a two-point advantage in the paint, as both teams traded blows and forced misses at the rim.
The difference for the Wolverines was forcing the Spartans into some early foul trouble and going 7-7 from the free throw line. Despite some early mistakes, the Spartans kept it within one at 18-17.
“I thought the first half was a little bit choppy and frustrating for us,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “But we hung in there, and in the second half I really think we made some good adjustments and our kids played, I thought we played tougher.”
The rest of the half featured more classic Big Ten basketball with every bucket being earned. The Wolverines, despite playing a mostly guard lineup, worked for bonus opportunities on the offensive glass. Grabbing nine offensive rebounds but only coming away with five second chance points.
However, MSU was similarly stagnant in their chances, only coming away with 12 second quarter points and went on a 2:32 scoring drought. A major contributor to this was missed entry passes to the block leading to a negative five TO margin.
One Spartan who consistently found the bottom of the net was senior guard Jaddan Simmons, who went 100% from the line in the first half with nine points. She finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
The opening half was not kind to either team shooting from distance. For two teams that combined for 24 made threes in their last outings, MSU and UM went a combined 4-22 from distance. However, the second quarter’s lone triple from UM senior guard Jordan Hobbs made the difference in a 33-29 Wolverine halftime advantage.
That’s when everything changed, the Spartans seemed to flip a switch out of the locker room and caught fire quickly. MSU matched their first half three-point total in the first two minutes of the third quarter, courtesy of graduate guard Julia Ayrault and Hallock.
“I’ll give them as examples because they just shared [Ayrault, Hallock], they are Spartans,” Fralick said. “They feel so much about this game, they grew up green from the minute they were born, and it’s special to be a part of that.”
The pair sparked MSU to a 24-5 start to the third as they finished with 25 and 18 points respectively. 23 of her points total came in the third and fourth for Hallock as this is her third straight leading scorer performance for MSU.
“This game is just so special, I mean I love rivalries, but I give all the credit to my teammates, they got me open, they threw it to me in transition and they took care of it as well,” Hallock said. “I’m just super proud to be playing with them.”
Not only did the Spartans throw a major haymaker to start, but they also cleaned up under the rim and made life messy for the Wolverines. UM’s glass presence on the offensive end disappeared, only grabbing a single rebound with no second chance points. The Wolverines only secured three more for the rest of the half with no resulting scores.
The Spartan defense in the half court also remained at a high level. The highly talented freshman guard trio of Olivia Olson, Syla Swords, and Jordan Hobbs are all averaging double figures this season.
Against MSU, the group performed but was held in check, totaling 31 for the day but only 18 in the second half. Swords and Hobbs went a combined 0-8 from the field in the second, with the Wolverines as a unit shooting 29.6% on field goals.
“We have a lot of upperclassmen and I think we need to use that to our advantage,” Ayrault said. “They are freshmen, and it was kind of our goal to kind of just, you know, make them feel like we’re older, we’ve kinda been here longer.”
MSU remained all gas, no brakes from this point forward and doubled the 15-point lead. The Spartans completely turned around the outside shooting for 8-15 on second half threes.
Then a resurgent VanSlooten found rhythm underneath, with 11 second half points and a total of 18 on the day with eight rebounds. MSU as a unit eventually wore down the Wolverine inside defense as well, coming out with a 44-24 paint point advantage.
“Her [VanSlooten] rebounding was unbelievable, in both halves, her rebounding in the first half really kept us in it when the game was a little bit choppy for us,” Fralick said. “She did in the second half and then finished really well, but a big part of that was we moved it better and got her the ball in better spots.”
As for UM’s first half turnover battle win, this was yet another completely different story in the second. The Spartans committed two giveaways, only in the game’s final minute, while the Wolverines committed 19 TO’s that turned into 15 MSU points.
“We knew they were gonna get uncomfortable with our pressure, Jaddan, Nyla [Hampton], and Jocelyn [Tate] do a terrific job,” Hallock said. “They get on their ball handlers good and we use those deflections and we turn our defense into offense.”
After complete shifts in almost every facet of the game, the Spartans loaded the buses for East Lansing with a 88-58 conquest under their belts.
After splitting their two ranked games of the week, UM finds themselves with an overall record of 14-6 and 5-4 in conference. Their four-game win streak in the Big Ten comes to an end.
With the quad one road win, MSU improves to 17-3 and 7-2 in conference. The Spartans also secured their fifth straight B1G win of the season and their third straight win over UM.
For their next matchup, MSU will go up against Oregon, a foe from the west that VanSlooten has plenty of experience with.
“Obviously it’s a tough one for Grace, she transferred from there,” Hallock said. “So we’re gonna play our hearts out for her.”
The Spartans and Ducks will tip-off from the Breslin Center on Thursday at 6 p.m., with the broadcast being available on Big Ten Network.
