WBB @ Michigan State: Disappointment at Breslin

Opponent: Michigan State (15-5, 5-4 B1G)

Result: Loss, 82-61

Record: 14-7, 5-4 B1G

Date:  1/27, Away

Starters: Laila Phelia, Jordan Hobbs, Lauren Hansen, Chyra Evans, Elissa Brett 

Injuries/inactives: none

• Everybody played, but Sollom and Brown ended up with the fewest minutes. 1 for Sollom, 2 for Brown

Offense:

• Michigan State used a 2-2-1 full court press all day and hassled Michigan effectively with it. While Michigan passed through it smoothly sometimes, here are some examples of notable plays for better or worse: 
  • Trapped Hansen near half but State committed the foul
  • State fouled Brett trying to intercept a pass
  • State intercepted an inbounds for a quick bucket
  • State created a steal right before half time
• Michigan started well on offense, shooting 56% from the field before the first media timeout, including buckets from Phelia, Hobbs, and Evans
• Phelia started 4-4 in the first quarter for 9 points before she had to sit with two fouls and a minute and a half left in the quarter. She got a third in the second quarter, a fourth in the third quarter, and had to sit both times
• Cam Williams definitely had a size advantage down low, but couldn’t seem to back down her defender without traveling, getting called for shuffling her feet twice in the first quarter
  • Chyra Evans also had issues traveling. I counted at least 3
• Michigan got back into the game in the third quarter and cut the lead to 11 with six minutes left. Hansen started the scoring with 5 quick points. Evans and Stuck both contributed layups, then Hobbs used a strong drive to draw the foul and hit both free throws
  • Michigan’s offense then stagnated for the rest of the quarter and State pushed the lead up to 21
• Phelia sat most of the second and third quarters, then returned for the fourth and scored 12 of Michigan’s 20 points in the final frame

Defense:

• Michigan State’s first bucket came on a wide open three that Brett helped off and then couldn’t recover in time. Thankfully Evans answered with some solid post footwork for the layup and Brett drew a charge on the next possession
• Elissa Brett committed two fouls and had to sit midway through the first quarter. Taylor Woodson was the first player off the bench
• Michigan State’s transition seemed too fast for Michigan in the first quarter, as they often did not seem fully set before State was driving to the basket. Michigan would then collapse with three to four defenders, allowing State open kick outs. State was 3-7 from deep in the first quarter
• State took a 10 point lead quickly in the second quarter by cutting into and through the lane for six quick points. Michigan did not score until there were 5 minutes left in the second quarter
• Hobbs had an impressive block when she was outnumbered 3-1 on a fast break. She tracked back and Ayrault chose to drive right at her instead of pass. Hobbs stayed disciplined and got her full hand on the ball
• With the gap at 18, Brett was still looking to draw charges and successfully got one with 6 minutes left

Notable stats:

• Phelia led the team with 21 points on 8-11 shooting, including 2-2 from deep
• Julia Ayrault and DeeDee Hagemann were the standouts for MSU with 19 and 20 points respectively
• Michigan got in a lot of foul trouble in the first half. Phelia had 3, Evans, Brett, and Woodson all had 2. State had one player with 3 fouls and one with 2
  • State ended up with 34 free throw attempts on the day, shooting 85% as a team, while Michigan only had 17 attempts
  • The game stayed chippy throughout as both Tate and Ayrault fouled out in the fourth quarter
• MSU had 7 steals while Michigan had none. MSU also won the turnover battle 11-17
• Michigan only got 6 total points from their bench on a day where six bench players got 7 or more minutes

Overall: 

• For the second straight game, Michigan was without one of its starters for a large portion of the game as Phelia only got 26 minutes because of foul trouble. Michigan started strong in the first quarter, but fell apart in the second quarter and could not mount a comeback against a hostile crowd at Breslin, Michigan State’s speedy transition offense, and full court press. Michigan has 5 games to play until they see MSU again at Crisler, hopefully with a better result.

Up next: 

• 1/31: home vs Illinois (8-10, 2-6 B1G) at 7pm on B1G+
  • Second game against Illinois this season. The first was an 84-48 Michigan road win on 12/10. Illinois was 5-2 when they first faced Michigan, but has lost 7 of 10 games since, with their only wins in that stretch coming against UTEP, Northwestern, and Rutgers
  • Led by senior guard Genesis Bryant who is averaging 14.9 points per game and 3.4 assists
  • In their two recent B1G wins, Illinois made some threes, but relied on ~50% shooting on a large volume of shots to get above 90 points. Granted, both of these wins were against two of the three teams below Illinois in the B1G standings, but Michigan should look to limit Illinois’ shot attempts to get the win
• 2/3: away at Penn State (14-5, 5-3 B1G) at 6pm on Big Ten Network 
  • Penn State has 6 players averaging double digit points, including senior guard Tay Valladay who is shooting 56% from three point range this season
  • After playing three years at Maryland, Ashley Owusu transferred to Virginia Tech last season, but broke her pinkie in December of 2022 and played limited minutes the rest of the season. She then landed at Penn State for her final year, but has been dealing with an undisclosed injury and made her season debut in late January, leading Penn State to 3 straight wins and averaging 19 points per game in the process
  • Penn State has lost to 3 ranked teams this season (USC, Ohio State, Indiana) as well as a couple unranked teams (Michigan State and West Virginia). They only lost to USC by a point and took Ohio State to overtime, but couldn’t finish either off for a signature win. Since losing to Indiana on 1/14, they’ve won four straight over Rutgers, Purdue, Nebraska, and Northwestern to move up to 4th in the Big Ten, 2 games back from the top 3

Most recent bracketology: 

• ESPN has Michigan as an 11 seed (updated 1/26)
• College Sports Madness has Michigan as an 11 seed (1/24)
• Her Hoop Stats has Michigan as an 11 seed (1/15)