EAST LANSING- No. 16 Michigan State women’s basketball is set to take on Northwestern in Evanston, IL this Sunday. The Spartans are 17-4 on the season and 7-3 in conference play.
MSU is coming off a 63-59 loss at home to the unranked Oregon Ducks. The Spartans struggled to get their offense going early in the game, scoring only eight points in the first quarter.
“I thought that the game was obviously lost in the first quarter with our start and our just, readiness to execute and details with that,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said.
Despite a fourth quarter rally from the Spartans, they could not complete the comeback and suffered their first home loss of the season.
“I thought our fight back was good, but even when we fought back, we’d get to the free throw line and left those points in the thin air especially when we were clawing back into the game,” Fralick said.
Against Oregon, MSU shot only 25% from the arc, and 33% from the field. These uncharacteristic shots were a result of many miscommunications in the offense, who could not adjust to the Ducks defensive pressure.
This upcoming game against Northwestern is a must-win for the Spartans, because their schedule only gets tougher from here.
After Northwestern, MSU will host in-state rival Michigan, and Wisconsin. MSU will then travel to the West Coast to face No.1 UCLA and No. 4 USC, two newly added B1G teams, and two very difficult competitors.
No. 16 MSU at Northwestern will face off this Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Welsh-Ryan Arena.