No. 13/12 MSU Hosts Top-15 Match-Up Against No. 13/12 OSU in Regular-Season Finale

Sunday, March 1

East Lansing, Mich.

12 PM

Michigan State University

No. 13/12 Ohio State

No. 13/12 MSU Hosts Top-15 Match-Up Against No. 13/12 OSU in Regular-Season Finale

2/28/2026 8:30:00 AM | Women's Basketball

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The Spartans have won 13 home game this season.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 15/15 Michigan State women's basketball will play its final regular-season game hosting No. 13/12 Ohio State on Sunday, March 1. Tipoff time is set for 12 p.m. Chris Vosters and Shmmiy Miller will be on the call for BTN.

• The Spartans have won two-straight games after a win over No. 23 Minnesota on the road on Feb. 22, 75-61. Michigan State now stands 22-6 overall and 11-6 in Big Ten play. In the final game of the regular season both teams will be vying for Big Ten Tournament seeding.

• No. 13/12 Ohio State is coming off an overtime loss to No. 8/8 Michigan on Wednesday in overtime, 88-86. Despite the loss, the Buckeyes stand 23-6 overall and 12-5 in league play.

• Against Minnesota, redshirt-sophomore Kennedy Blair dished out a game-high six assists, giving her 153 helpers for the season, vaulting up to No. 8 on MSU's single-season assists, passing Deb Traxinger with 148 assists in 1979-80 and just three behind former teammate DeeDee Hagemann with 156 in 2023-24.

• Michigan State's 6-3 road record in Big Ten Play is the most wins since going 7-1 in league play during the 2013-14 season. That Big Ten Championship season, MSU went 13-3 in Big Ten games.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State comes to East Lansing with an overall record of 23-6 and a 12-5 in Big Ten action. The Buckeyes have dropped three of their last four games, including an overtime game to No. 8 Michigan on Wednesday, 88-86. OSU is solid on the road with a 6-2 league record away from Columbus.

Jaloni Cambridge leads Ohio State averaging 23.1 points per game, which places her first in the Big Ten. Chance Gray is second in scoring with 14.4 ppg. Kennedy Cambridge is also first in the league in steals per game, averaging 3.97 spg.

The Buckeyes are fifth in the Big Ten in scoring offense, putting up 82.9 ppg. They are first in the conference in steals per game with 12.1 spg, as well as second in blocks with 4.6 bpg.

Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff has been at the helm of the Buckeyes for 13 seasons. He holds a record at OSU of 247-117. Overall, he has a career record of 502-216 in 24 seasons.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State holds the series lead against Michigan State 63-29. The Spartans are trying to snap a seven-game losing streak against the Buckeyes. MSU's last win against Ohio State came on Jan. 16, 2020. Michigan State won that battle 68-65, behind 20 points from All-American Nia Clouden.

OSU leads the series 23-14 in East Lansing. In Columbus, the Buckeyes are dominate, leading 28-11. On neutral ground, Ohio State is on top in the series 12-14. Last season in Columbus, Ohio State came out on top 89-78. Theryn Hallock was one of four Spartans in double figures, setting a new career high with 29 points. She was a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc to lead MSU and also a new career-best. Grace VanSlooten scored 19 points, adding nine rebounds. Julia Ayrault scored 11 points with four assists, while graduate guard Jaddan Simmons added 10 points, going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

COLLECTING WINS
The Spartans have reached the 22-win mark all three seasons of the Robyn Fralick era. This is the fastest season to hit 22 wins. MSU heads into the final game of the regular season with a 22-6 record. The last time Michigan State earned more than 22 wins was the 2015-16 season when the Spartans went 25-9.

BLAIR LENDING A HELPING HAND
Redshirt-sophomore Kennedy Blair dished out a game-high six assists against Minnesota on Feb. 22, giving her 153 helpers for the season, vaulting up to No. 8 on MSU's single-season assists, passing Deb Traxinger with 148 assists in 1979-80 and just behind former teammate DeeDee Hagemann with 156 in 2023-24.

Blair now has 175 assists for her career, still over 100 away from cracking into MSU's career top 20 assists list, as Carlotta Taylor (1986-90) holds the No. 20 mark with 283 helpers. However, Blair's career assists average of 3.6 apg (175 assists in 48 career games), holds at No. 13 on MSU's career assists per game list, sandwiched in between a pair of Spartan greats in passing Shay Colley (2017-20) with 3.5 apg and just behind Tori Jankoska (2013-17) with 3.7 apg.

SHE'S A SURVIVOR
Michigan State redshirt-junior forward Isaline Alexander returned to action for the first time in the 2026 portion of the season, as she had not played in the previous 14 games after being injured in MSU's game vs. Rutgers on Dec. 28, 2025.

FRALICK TO JOIN TEAM USA STAFF
Michigan State women's basketball coach Robyn Fralick has been named an assistant coach for the women's U18 National Team.

She will be joined by Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey and California head coach Charmin Smith. They will be leading the FIBA U18 AmeriCup team this summer. Ivey will be the U18 head coach. Fralick will help lead the USA at the 2026 FIBA U18 Women's AmeriCup, set for June 8-14. The United State will look to capture their 12th-straight gold medal and 13th overall since the tournament's inception in 1988.

DID YOU KNOW?
Michigan State's 6-3 road record in Big Ten Play is the most wins since going 7-1 in league play during the 2013-14 season. That Big Ten Championship season, MSU went 13-3 in Big Ten games.

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
The Spartans only had five turnovers against Northwestern on Feb. 18, their fewest in a Big Ten game this season, bettering the previous low of six vs. Illinois (1/4/26). It was also the third-fewest miscues of the season, behind three in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst (11/4/25) and four vs. Western Michigan (11/16/25). Overall, it was the Spartans' sixth game with single-digit turnovers this season.

ROBYN'S NEST
The Breslin Center has become home right away for head coach Robyn Fralick. She boasts a 37-7 record at home in three seasons at Michigan State. In her first season in 2023-24, the Spartans went 13-2 with their only losses coming to Nebraska and Ohio State. In 2024-25, MSU was also 13-2 with losses to Oregon and Michigan. So far this season, the Spartans are 11-3 at the Breslin Center.

BY THE NUMBERS vs. MINNESOTA

MSU not only snapped Minnesota's nine-game win streak, but the Spartan defense held the Gophers to 61 points, 15.1 points below their overall season average and 14.4 ppg below their conference games average. Also, only UCLA held Minnesota to fewer points in a home Big Ten game, when the Bruins held the Gophers to 58 points in a 76-58 win by the then-No. 3 Bruins.
The Spartan defense held the Gophers to a season-low 33.3 field goal percentage as well as only 23 field goals (23-of-69), their fewest made field goals in a home game. MSU limited Minnesota to 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from 3-point range, the Gophers' second-lowest home shooting total from distance, behind 23.5 percent (4-of-17) that UCLA held Minnesota to.

GETTING IN THE STARTING LINEUP
After using the same starting lineup for seven games, Michigan State used a different starting lineup against Clemson on Nov. 30. After an injury to Theryn Hallock, MSU went with the lineup for senior forward Grace VanSlooten, senior forward Marah Dykstra, senior guard Emma Shumate, junior guard Rashunda Jones and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair. MSU is 2-1 with that lineup. MSU rolled out its third lineup against Indiana State with Blair, Jones, Van Slooten, Inés Sotelo and Sara Sambolić, which is now 1-0. The Spartans changed it up for a fourth time against No. 15 Ole Miss and Rutgers with VanSlooten, Jones, Blair, Sotelo and Isaline Alexander making the starting five.

Yet another lineup was debuted against Indiana in Blair, Jones, VanSlooten, Sotelo and Jalyn Brown with that group improving to 8-5 after a loss to No. 7 Michigan on Feb. 15. Against NU, MSU used the lineup of Blair, Brown, Van Slooten, Sotelo and Sambolić. The Spartans seventh starting lineup was unveiled against Minnesota on Feb. 22 with Sambolić, Brown, Alexander, VanSlooten and Blair. VanSlooten and Blair the only Spartans to start all 28 games.

EVERYONE IS NOTICING GRACE
Senior forward Grace VanSlooten was named to the 10 Mid-Season nominees for the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award. VanSlooten is one of four Big Ten players named to the watch list, including Maryland's Yarden Garzon, UCLA's Gabriela Jaquez and Michigan's Olivia Olson. She was also named to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Late-Season Women's College Player of the Team on Feb. 17. She joined seven other Big Ten players, including UCLA's Lauren Betts, USC's Jazzy Davidson, Iowa's Ava Heiden, Maryland's Oluchi Okanawa, Washington's Sayvia Sellers and Michigan's Olivia Olson and Syla Swords.

PACKING THE HOUSE
The 11,635 fans that packed into the Breslin Center against Michigan on Feb. 1 were the most during the three seasons of the Robyn Fralick era. It was the most since Feb. 23, 2020 against Michigan. Overall, it was No. 15 all-time at MSU.

BROWN'S BIG BUCKETS
Senior guard Jalyn Brown's 20 points was her third 20-point outing of the season. Brown has scored in double-figures in the last three games as part of seven of the last eight contests and 16 total games this season. The senior guard Brown netted two 3-pointers for the third-straight game, as well as the fourth time in the last seven games. Overall, Brown now has seven games this season with multiple triples.

GRACE IS A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
Senior forward Grace VanSlooten tied her season-best of 22 points against Northwestern, matching her outing vs. Nebraska (1/15/26). She also added 10 points in the win over Minnesota on Feb. .22. VanSlooten now has netted double-figures in 14 of the last 15 games and 25 times out of the 28 games this season. She has netted 10+ points in 54 of 59 total games as a Spartan and in 109 out of 122 total games in her collegiate career, with 56 double-figure scoring outings during her two seasons at Oregon.

LOOKING AT THE NET
In the current women's basketball NET ranking, the Spartans stand No. 15. They are sixth among Big Ten schools behind No. 2 UCLA, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Iowa, No. 13 Ohio State and No. 14 Maryland. UConn stands No. 1.

BLUE BLOODS
Michigan State is one of seven schools in the country to have both its women's and men's teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25. The Spartans join Michigan as the only two teams in the Big Ten. Vanderbilt, UConn, Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and Texas Tech are the other six schools with both teams ranked.

HAVE TO PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST
Overall, the match-up with No. 23/23 Minnesota was the Spartans' ninth ranked battle of the season. Michigan State is now 4-5 vs. ranked opponents, starting with a neutral court win over No. 15/15 Ole Miss, 66-49 (12/22/25 in Cherokee, North Carolina), a road win at No. 23/23 Washington, 82-67, a home win over No. 24/RV Nebraska, 73-71 (1/15/26) and Sunday's win over No. 23/23 Minnesota (2/22/26). MSU has losses at No. 11/13 Iowa, 75-68 (1/18/25), home loss vs. No. 9/9 Michigan, 94-91 in OT (2/1/26), a home loss to No. 22/19 Maryland, 86-70 (1/4/26), an 86-63 home loss to No. 2/2 UCLA, and at loss at No. 7/7 Michigan (2/15/26).

SPARTANS VS. THE NCAA
After 28 games, Michigan State stands eighth in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.42). The Spartans are 10th in the NCAA and third in the Big Ten in scoring offense (84.1 ppg). MSU is 10th in the country in field goal percentage, 48.5 percent and 10th in assists (7.67). Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair is 24th in the NCAA in assists per game (5.5 apg). Emma Shumate is 23rd in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (42.2 percent).
STRONG BENCH
The Spartans' 59 points scored by their bench was more than Eastern Illinois' entire team scoring of 53 points on Nov. 20. Against DePaul on Dec. 14, the Spartan bench scored 44 of 90 points. MSU kept that trend up against Indiana State with 64 bench points. This season, the MSU bench has out-scored opponents 729-455. The Spartans are 17-1 this season when their bench out-scored their opponent.

SMITH SELECTED TO WBCA NGI
Michigan State assistant coach Bianca Smith was selected by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to join the 2026 class of the WBCA Next Generation Institute. The WBCA Next Generation Institute is a high-level education program for experienced assistant coaches who aspire to become collegiate head coaches. Now in its fourth year, the curriculum of the WBCA Next Generation Institute focuses on the CEO attributes needed to lead a program and be a problem-solver in today's ever-changing landscape of higher education and the enterprise of intercollegiate athletics. She joins Latara King from Washington and Abby Sharp from Iowa as Big Ten coaches participating.

FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Lilly Williams became the first future Spartan since Sidney Cooks in 2017 to be named a McDonald's All-American. Williams plays at Howell high school for her senior season after winning National HomeSchool Christian National Championships.

NO NIGHTS OFF IN THE BIG TEN
The Big Ten continues to be one of the toughest conferences in the country with six teams in the top 15 in the rankings. In the AP poll, UCLA is No. 2, while Michigan is No. 8. Iowa, Ohio State and Maryland are No. 9 and No. 13 and No. 14, respectively. Michigan State stands No. 15 and Minnesota is ranked No. 22. USC, Washington and Illinois are also receiving votes.

BIG TIME BIG TEN NUMBERS
The Spartans are third in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 84.1 ppg and fourth in scoring margin (+19.1). Michigan State is also third in turnover margin (+7.25). The Spartans stand third in assists per game, averaging 18.4 apg and second in steals per game with 11.7 spg.

Individually, Kennedy Blair is second in the league in steals per game, averaging 2.39 spg, while Rashunda Jones is fifth, averaging 2.22 spg, while Blair is also fourth in assists with 5.46 apg. Emma Shumate is seventh in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (.422).

FRALICK REACHES A MILESTONE
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick reached a career milestone against Illinois on Jan. 4. With the win, she earned her 250th career win. She now holds a 258-101 record in 11 seasons as a head coach. She has won 66 games at MSU.

FINDING THE MAGIC NUMBER
Michigan State's 102 points against Oakland on Nov. 23 marked the Spartans' sixth time out of six games scoring 90+ points. MSU's 90 points against DePaul on Dec. 14 was the first time reaching 90 in the last four games, after the Spartans had scored 90 or more points in each of the first six games of the season. MSU is now 7-1 when scoring 90+ points with the only loss coming against Michigan on Feb. 1.

The Spartans' 115 points in the win against Indiana State on Dec. 21 was MSU's second-most of the season, behind the season-high 125 points in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst (11/4/25). The Spartans reached 100 points in a 104-68 win over Northwestern on Feb. 18. It was Michigan State's fifth 100-point game, moving to 5-0.

BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
By winning the 2025 Cherokee Invitational crown, Michigan State not only defended its 2023 Cherokee Invitational championship, but also collected its second tournament title of the season after winning the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship of the Junkanoo Division in the Bahamas on Nov. 30. It is also MSU's fourth tournament title in the last three seasons after winning the 2023 Cherokee Invitational and the 2024 Acrisure Classic crown last season in Palm Springs, Calif.

BRINGING HOME THE GOLD
Three players earned gold medals for their home countries this summer. Grace VanSlooten won the FIBA Women's Americup for Team USA. Marah Dykstra won gold for Canada in the FIBA 3x3 Junior Pan American Games. Inés Sotelo and Spain won a gold medal in the 2025 FIBA Eurobasket.

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick has announced senior forward Grace VanSlooten and senior guard Abbey Kimball as team captains, as voted on by the players on the 2025-26 women's basketball team. This is the first time that either has been named a captain for Michigan State. VanSlooten is in her second season with MSU after transferring from Oregon. Kimball is in her fourth season as a Spartan.