No. 6-Seeded Michigan State Upset by No. 11-Seeded Iowa

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - In the second round of the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Tournament, No. 6-seeded Michigan State fell to No. 11-seeded Iowa, 74-61, on Thursday evening in Indianapolis.

The Spartans fall to 21-9 with the loss, while Iowa improves to 22-9 with the win. The Hawkeyes will take on No. 3-seeded Ohio State in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Michigan State is now 2-3 against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament, having lost the last three meetings. Overall, MSU is 26-29 in the Big Ten Tournament.

Junior forward Grace VanSlooten paced the Spartans with a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She now has five double-doubles this season. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault led the Spartans with 17 points, including going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Freshman center Inés Sotelo added 11 points off the bench.

Ayrault became the new MSU record holder for career games played, playing in her 137th career game Thursday night, pulling away from a tie for the record with Branndais Agee (2013-18), Kalisha Keane (2007-11) and Alyssa DeHaan (2006-10).

Iowas was led by 21 points from Lucy Olsen.

MSU used a 9-0 to take an early 9-3 lead after an Ayrault trey. The scoring started to pick up as both Ayrault and Olsen were big in the first quarter. The Spartans scored eight points off of turnovers in the first 10 minutes to lead 16-12. Ayrault led the Spartans with eight points.

The Hawkeyes scored the first 16 points of the second quarter to re-take the lead 28-16. Michigan State was hampered by 15 turnovers in the first half. The Spartans scored their first basket at the 3:18 mark with a Sotelo layup. MSU battled back to get the deficit down to five after a pair of 3-pointers by Ayrault. Despite being out-scored 20-9 in the second quarter, Michigan State only trailed at the half 32-25.

The Spartans scored the first six points of the third quarter to only trail 32-31 with under nine minutes left in the period. Ayrault tied the score after a pair of free throws after a technical. MSU took a five-point lead, 46-41, after a VanSlooten layup at the 4:04 mark. Iowa used a 6-0 run to re-take the lead 52-48 with under a minute left in the period. At the end of the quarter, the Hawkeyes led 54-48. Sotelo was huge for MSU in the third period with seven points.

The Hawkeyes put the game out of reach with a 7-0 run with under a minute remaining. Iowa out-scored Michigan State 20-13 in the final 10 minutes. The Hawkeyes used balanced scoring with five players scoring in the fourth period. Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons led the way for MSU with five points in the fourth quarter, but Iowa was 6-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to secure the win. The Spartans struggled from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, going 0-for-6.

Michigan State will now await the NCAA Tournament Selection on Sunday, March 16 at 8 p.m.

Michigan State Women's Basketball
Post-Game Notes: vs. Iowa in Big Ten Tournament 3-6-25

• No. 24/24 ranked and sixth-seeded Michigan State is now 21-9 overall after the 74-61 loss to 11th-seeded Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday night in Indianapolis.

• Thursday was the third time that MSU was the sixth-seed in the B1G Tournament and the first time since 2017.

• It was also the fifth all-time meeting between MSU and Iowa in the B1G Tournament and all coming in Indianapolis, and the Hawkeyes now take the lead in the B1G Tournament meetings, 3-2, winning the last three, in 2010, 2021 and 2025, after the Spartans won the first two in 2004 and 2006.

• Iowa now leads the all-time series, 44-31, winning five of the last six as MSU snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with the 68-66 win during the regular-season on Dec. 15 in East Lansing in both teams' B1G openers.

• The Spartans were limited to 61 points, their fewest since Feb. 9 in a 71-61 loss to No. 24/RV Michigan at East Lansing and their fewest points scored away from home . . . Thursday's scoring total matched that Feb. 9 game for MSU's second-fewest points of the season, behind 59 points in 63-53 loss to Oregon on Jan. 30 also at East Lansing.

• Michigan State swiped 11 steals Thursday night, leaving the Spartans just two shy from tying the single-season school record . . . through 30 games, MSU now has 373 steals and the school record is 375 set by the 2004-05 Spartan squad in 37 games . . . the Spartans came into Thursday's game ranked second in the B1G and 11th in the NCAA in steals per game at 12.5 spg.

• The 11 steals was MSU's 22nd game this season with double-digit steals, including the fifth in the last seven games.

• MSU's 81.8 percent free throw shooting was the seventh game shooting 80.0 percent or better, including the third in the last four games and the fourth in the last six outings.

• The Spartans are now 8-7 away from home, including 5-5 in true road games and 3-2 on neutral courts.

• MSU is now 9-6 in games at night with the loss Thursday . . . the Spartans are now 2-2 in games played on a Thursday . . . MSU is now 1-1 in March . . . Michigan State is now an even 3-3 in games on Big Ten Network.

• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten double-double registered her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds . . . overall it was VanSlooten's 15th double-double of her collegiate career after 10 double-doubles during her time at Oregon.

• VanSlooten's 12 points was her 17th-straight game in double-figure scoring as part of netting 10+ points in 27 of her 29 games played at MSU, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness and held to single digits twice . . . VanSlooten has now registered double-digit points 79 times out of 92 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.

• With the 17 points Thursday, VanSlooten now has a team-leading 453 points this season, just 17 more away from the No. 20 spot on MSU's single-season scoring list, as Kristen Rasmussen holds the No. 20 spot with 470 points in 1998-99.

• VanSlooten had one free throw attempt Thursday night, giving her 154 for the season, just one shy of the No. 10 spot on MSU's single-season free throw attempts list, as Tori Jankoska holds the No. 10 spot with 155 free throw attempts during the 2014-15 season.

• The team-best and game-high tying 10 rebounds was VanSlooten's fifth double-figure rebounding outing of the season, posting a double-double each time ... it was also VanSlooten's ninth game in a row with five or more rebounds, as part of the 11th time in the last 12 games played . . . overall, the junior forward has snared 5+ boards in 25 of her 29 games played this season.

• Of VanSlooten's 12 rebounds Thursday night, five of them were on the offensive glass, giving her 97 offensive rebounds this season, vaulting up to tie for No. 8 on MSU's single-season offensive rebounds list, tying Liz Shimek with 97 in 2003-04 . . . VanSlooten needs three more to become the eighth MSU women's basketball player with 100 offensive rebounds since the stat was first kept in the 1986-87 season.

• Ayrault has posted double-figure points in 51 of her last 58 career games played since the 2023-24 season-opener . . . overall, the graduate forward has 10+ points in 67 career games . . . the Spartans are now 47-20 when Ayault registers double-figure points.

• With 17 points Thursday, Ayrualt now has 1,340 career points, becoming the 14th MSU women's basketball player in program history to reach 1,300 career points . . . Ayrault is holding solid at No. 14 on MSU's career scoring list and 30 points from the No. 13 spot held by Kelli Roehrig (2013-18) with 1,370 points.

• After having her streak of at least one 3-pointer in her last 22 games played snapped vs. Indiana (2/23/25), Ayrault has made three triples in the last two games as part of at least one trey in the last three games since that Indiana game . . . Ayrault now has hit one triple in 26 of the 29 games played this season, behind held without a trey in the season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24), game three vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24) and the Indiana game

• The three triples on Thursday gives Ayrault 132 career 3-pointers, maintaining holding the No. 13 spot on the Spartans career 3-pointer list, and next up is a tie for the No. 11 spot with 138 3-pointers by former teammate Matilda Ekh (2022-23) and former strength & conditioning coach and former Spartan Annalise Pickrel (2010-14).

• Ayrault was a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line, marking her 12th game this season at 100 percent from the charity stripe, and the 6-of-6 is the second-most when doing so behind a season-best 8-of-8 vs. Washington (1/12/25).

• With three rebounds Thursday, Ayrault has 741 career boards, holding the No. 11 spot on MSU's career rebounding list.

• Ayrault tallied two blocks Thursday, for her 13th game this season with multiple rejections and she has at least one rejection in 23 of the 29 games played, including in 13 of the last 14 games as her streak of 11-straight games was halted on Feb. 26 at Ohio State after being denied a block.

• The two blocks gives Ayrault 43 for the season, one shy of the MSU's top 10 single-season blocks list, as Lykendra Johnson holds the No. 10 spot with 44 blocks in the 2010-11 season.

• Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons dished out a team-high five assists, tying for her second-most this season for the fourth time and marking her 10th game with five or more helpers, including her season-high six helpers in five different games, last vs. Wisconsin (2/12/25).

• Junior guard Theryn Hallock swiped a team-best and game-high tying four steals, tying her season-high for the fifth time this season, last doing so at UCLA (2/16/25) . . . the last three of Hallock's four games with four steals have come away from home, as her first time of the season doing so was the lone occasion with four swipes at home, vs. Detroit Mercy (11/20/24), the snagging four steals at Illinois (11/19/25) and at UCLA, before Thursday's game at Indianapolis.

• Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate extended her streak of being the only Spartan to start all 30 games this season, and made her 61st start in 61 games played at MSU, along with her 98th collegiate career start in her 131st career game played.

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Team Stats

Julia Ayrault

Grace VanSlooten

Inés Sotelo

Jocelyn Tate

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten