Julee Burgess Executive Senior Associate AD for Sport Administration | Michigan State Spartan Athletics Website
Julee Burgess Executive Senior Associate AD for Sport Administration | Michigan State Spartan Athletics Website
Michigan State University's women's basketball team is set to begin their 2024-25 season against Oakland University on Tuesday, November 5th, at the Breslin Center. The game marks the second consecutive year that these two teams will meet in MSU's season opener. Marin Klein and Charlie Schmidgall will provide commentary for B1G+.
MSU's head coach, Robyn Fralick, enters her second year leading the Spartans after achieving a 22-9 record in her inaugural season. Oakland concluded their previous season with a 12-17 overall record and an 8-12 mark in Horizon League play. In their sole exhibition game, they secured a victory over Rochester University with a score of 91-66.
The Spartans are bringing back two All-Big Ten players: first-team guard/forward Julia Ayrault and Sixth Player of the Year guard Theryn Hallock. Ayrault led last year's team in scoring with an average of 15.4 points per game, while Hallock contributed an average of 11.2 points per game.
Oakland junior guard Maddy Skorupski, who previously played for MSU, returns to face her former team once again this season. Head coach Jeff Tungate resumes his role after taking medical leave last season.
Historically, Michigan State has dominated their series against Oakland with a record of 20 wins to four losses and has won the last sixteen encounters between them.
In preparation for this season's challenges, Michigan State has added several experienced transfers to its roster and introduced "Breslin Boom," a new student section aimed at energizing home games. The team's schedule includes matches against seven teams ranked in preseason top-25 polls.
Coach Fralick announced that Julia Ayrault and Nyla Hampton have been selected as team captains by their peers for the upcoming season.