EAST LANSING– No. 13 Michigan State women’s basketball defeated USC by a score of 74-68 in front of an energetic Breslin crowd Thursday night. The Spartans remained perfect at home on the season and improved to 18-2 on the season, and 7-2 in conference play. Michigan State bounced back from a tough loss at Iowa to take down a talented USC team.
Here are three takeaways from the Spartans’ win.
Defense wreaks havoc
The Spartans’ defense was the main reason why they won this game. USC shot better from the field by 10% and won the rebound battle but were still unable to come away with the win. The Spartans had 14 steals and 11 blocks, as well as 24 turnovers forced on the night. Sophomore guard Kennedy Blair had five steals, while senior guard Jalyn Brown and senior forward Grace VanSlooten had three blocks each. The Spartans constant pressure wreaked havoc on the Trojans’ offense, making it extremely difficult for them to get anything going at times. The Spartans had 25 points off USC’s turnovers, a key swing in what was only a two-possession game.
“We knew we couldn’t give them 25 points off of our turnovers. That’s near impossible to overcome,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said postgame. ”They weren’t necessary. Some were dead ball turnovers, some alive, probably under 15 would have been great and certainly way less than 24.”
Sophomore center Ines Sotelo had a huge steal that led to three points for VanSlooten to give the Spartans the lead in the third, and senior guard Rashunda Jones had a steal that led to a three-point play in the fourth to push the Spartans’ lead further. The Spartans also stayed disciplined, only letting the Trojans shoot eight free throws compared to their 24.
Depth not needed
Neither team saw a lot of scoring from their bench in this game. USC had seven bench points while the Spartans had just two. Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, sophomore guard Kennedy Smith, and senior guard Kara Dunn had almost all the scoring for USC. The rest of the team only had nine points on the night. Davidson was the number one high school recruit and has shown it, adding another 21 points tonight, while Dunn led all scorers with 23. Dunn and Davidson both played over 39 minutes, with Dunn only sitting out for three seconds the entire game.
Blair was the Spartans leading scorer with 21, while Jones and VanSlooten both scored 16 points. Sotelo added 12 as she continues to progress after missing the start of the season. The Spartans played just eight players, and five players played over 30 minutes on the night. The three-headed monster of Blair, Jones, and VanSlooten continue to dominate opponents and come up big for the Spartans.
Clutch plays and resilience
A constant theme this season has been the Spartans’ resilience. MSU led by 12 with just under five minutes to go but in the blink of an eye, the lead was cut to two. MSU head coach Robyn Fralick called a timeout, and the Spartans came out refocused and were able to put the game away.
The biggest play of the game came when VanSlooten fought for an offensive rebound that led to a Blair bucket plus the foul to push the lead to five. The rebound and shot halted the Trojans’ momentum and swung it back in the Spartans’ favor, as the game never got within one possession again.
”I felt like Grace obviously got a huge rebound there, and I knew the time awareness. We had to take care of the ball, because I felt like we were shooting a little bit early in the clock. But we just set up, made sure that we were running our offense right,” Blair said. So Coach Fralick called the right play, and I just went downhill. They messed up that switch, so just attacking their guards, I knew that they were going to be bigger than me, so I had to put my body into them and I made it, so I’m just thankful for that, but just a physical game and I had to match that.”
The Spartans also had a pair of clutch threes from Jones and Brown, the latter of whom was able to come through despite having a tough night from the field and with foul trouble. The Spartans have continued to find ways to win and fight through adversity, as most teams would fall apart after a 10-0 run in less than a minute.
“That’ll be some good learning film, but what I was proud of is we didn’t collapse. A lot of times in a game when something like that happens against a really good team, the game can shift quickly,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “We got our composure back, put together some stops, made some big plays and figured out how to beat a really good team.”
The Spartans will have some time off, as their next game is next Thursday at Purdue at Mackey Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET, and the game will be streamed on the Big Ten Network.
