No. 22 Michigan State Edged by No. 1 UCLA, 75-69

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - No. 22 Michigan State women's basketball took the fight to No. 1 UCLA and gave the Bruins all they could handle Sunday night at Pauley Pavilion. However, MSU was overtaken late by a 7-0 UCLA run and the Spartans were topped, 75-69, by the top-ranked Bruins, despite having three players in double figures.

Michigan State falls to 19-6 overall and 9-5 in Big Ten action. UCLA improves to 24-1 overall and 12-1 in league contests.

Junior guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans with a game-high 19 points, adding four steals and three assists. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault scored 18 points, including 11 in the second half alone. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten added 16 points to go along with seven rebounds. Off the bench, graduate guard Nyla Hampton swiped three steals, as part of 10 team steals for MSU on the night. Michigan State was stellar from the free throw line, tying a school record going 12-for-12.

UCLA was led by 18 points each from Janiah Barker and Timea Gardiner off the bench.

Both teams were hot from beyond the arc early on, but it was UCLA who jumped out to an early 13-8 lead. A 7-0 run increased the home team's lead to 15-8 until a Hallock basket stopped the run. The Bruin offense was clicking despite playing without leading scorer Lauren Betts. Hallock led all scorers with eight points in the first period, as MSU trailed 21-16 after the first 10 minutes.

In the second quarter, UCLA took its first double-digit lead at 34-24 after a trey by Gardiner, and later stretched its lead to 13 points with 1:39 to play in the half on a Barker bucket. Ayrault came up with a big 3-pointer with 44 seconds left in the half to keep the Spartans within striking distance. With 17 seconds left in the half, Hampton earned a steal and from the ground found Hallock for the easy layup. With the last basket, Michigan State trimmed the deficit 41-33 at the break.

The Spartans used their tenacious defense to climb back into the game, with Hampton coming up with a steal and score to make it a 47-42 game, leading to a UCLA timeout at the 5:02 mark. Another Hallock trey made it a two-point game, 49-47. A 12-2 run by the Spartans tied the score at 49-49 with under three minutes left in the period. Michigan State took its first lead of the game at 55-53 after a Jocelyn Tate bank shot. The MSU defense held the Bruins without a field goal for the final 3:37 of the period, and out-scored UCLA 22-12 in the third quarter. The Spartans' 55-53 lead at the end of the period was the first time that UCLA had trailed heading into the fourth quarter all season.

After a pair of Kiki Rice free throws, UCLA re-took the lead at 59-57 at the 7:42 mark. A 6-0 Spartan run gave the visitors a 67-63 lead with 4:21 left, with Ayrault capping the run with a turnaround jumper. A Barker putback put UCLA back on top 68-67. Unfortunately, the Spartans went nearly four minutes without a field goal and UCLA ended the night on a 7-0 run to secure the victory. UCLA went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

Michigan State will conclude the road trip to Los Angeles at No. 6 USC on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 9:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Postgame Notes

• Michigan State played the No. 1 in the country for the seventh time in program history with Sunday's match-up vs. top-ranked UCLA ... Sunday was the first match-up vs. No. 1 since Nov. 25, 2017 when MSU played No. 1 UConn in Portland, Oregon, at the Nike PK80 Invitational in honor of Phil Knight's 80th birthday ... the Spartans are now 1-6 against No. 1 teams, with their only previous win coming over No. 1 Stanford in the 2005 NCAA Elite Eight, ending in a 76-69 Victory for MSU and the Spartans advanced to the Final Four.

• By being ranked No. 22/22, Sunday was the fourth of the seven meetings when MSU was ranked when facing the No. 1 team and the first since Jan. 6, 2007 when No. 19/18 Spartans lost at No. 1/1 Maryland, 97-57.

• Sunday was also only the second time of the seven that MSU played the No. 1 team on their home court, with the only other time being at No. 1/1 Maryland on Jan. 6, 2007.

• Additionally, Sunday was only the second time that the Spartans were playing a conference game against the No. 1, as the previous five meetings had been non-conference or postseason games ... The only other previous conference contest was MSU's first game against a No. 1 team, when Michigan State played No. 1 Iowa on Feb. 5, 1988, losing 77-52.

• Sunday's six-point loss was the closest loss to a No. 1 team of the six losses.

• MSU has won nine Big Ten games for the second-straight season, after finishing 12-6 in conference action last season, marking the first back-to-back seasons with at least nine league wins since the 2018-19 and 2019-20.

• With its next B1G win, MSU would post its first back-to-back seasons with 10+ conference wins since 2012-13 and 2013-14, that were the last two seasons of a 12-year streak of double-digit league wins ... with their next overall win, the Spartans would register their first 20+ wins in consecutive seasons since the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, with 25 and 21 wins, respectively.

• The Spartans were perfect at the free throw line (12-of-12) tying a school record for 100 percent at the charity stripe . . . overall, it was the 12th time in school history that MSU made 100 percent of its free throws, and the first since last season vs. Evansville (12/17/13), going 13-of-13.

• Michigan State led, 65-63, with 5:00 left in the game, marking the Spartans' first loss when leading with five minutes remaining, now 19-1 on the season.

• MSU used the same starting line for the fourth contest in a row, with graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, junior guard Theryn Hallock and junior forward Grace VanSlooten . . . Sunday was the sixth overall contest this season with that starting line-up on the court for the opening tip and MSU is now 3-3 with that starting quintet on the court.

• Tate extended her streak of being the only Spartan to start all 25 games this season, and made her 56th start in 56 games played at MSU, along with her 93rd collegiate career start in her 126th career game played.

• Ayrault made her 24th start in 24 games played this season, missing one with an injury, and made the 68th start of her career . . . Hallock started for the 21st time in 25 games played this season and 22nd start of career . . . Simmons made her 20th start of the season in playing her 25th game as a Spartan as part of her 127th career start in 133 career collegiate games played . . . VanSlooten started for the 16th time as a Spartan in her 24th game at MSU this season, missing the game vs. Eastern Michigan; it was VanSlooten's 77th collegiate career start in her 87th collegiate career game.

• Junior guard Theryn Hallock netted a team and game-high 19 points ... it was her second-straight double-figure scoring outing after 18 points last time out vs. Wisconsin (2/12/25) ... it was her 18th double-figure scoring game this season and 37th of her career, and MSU is now 13-5 this season and 28-9 in her career when Hallock posts double-digits.

• Hallock netted three 3-pointers Sunday, tying her season-high for the fourth time this season, all coming in the last seven games . . . of the four games now with three triples, the last three occasions have come in road games, netting a trio of triples at Michigan (1/25/25), at Northwestern (2/2/25) and Sunday at UCLA . . . Hallock's lone home game with three triples was vs. Penn State (1/22/25).

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Team Stats

Theryn Hallock

Julia Ayrault

Grace VanSlooten

Jocelyn Tate

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Nyla Hampton

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten