2020-21 SPARTAN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAME MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS VS SAINT FRANCIS RED FLASH 1 Friday, November 27 • 3 p.m. • Breslin Center THE OPENING TIP THE STARTING FIVE 2020-21 MSU SCHEDULE FOLLOW ALONG • After a delayed start due to the COVID-19 pan- Radio: WJIM 1240 AM; msuspartans.com demic, the 2020-21 basketball season is set to be- NOVEMBER Keaton Gillogly (pxp) gin. Michigan State women’s basketball will open 27 ST. FRANCIS (PA.) BTN+ 3 p.m. Live stats: msuspartans.com the season on Friday, Nov. 27 against Saint Francis. DECEMBER TV: B1G Network+ Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. at the Breslin Center. This 2 DETROIT MERCY BTN+ 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27 • 3 p.m. •Breslin Center is the first-ever meeting between the two teams. 9 at Minnesota * TBA 12 IOWA * TBA • This season, Michigan State will play five non- 18 CENTRAL MICHIGAN TBA conference games all in the Breslin Center. The 20 NORTHERN ILLINOIS TBA Spartans will play 20 Big Ten games after playing 22 OAKLAND TBA 18 last season. League play will begin early this sea- 31 at Ohio State * TBA son with B1G action starting on Dec. 9 at Minne- sota. This will be the earliest Big Ten opener since JANUARY falling to Indiana on Dec. 6, 2009. 3 at Purdue * TBA MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS 7 MARYLAND * TBA 2019-20 Record ............................. 16-14 (9-9 Big Ten) • Despite being without All-Big Ten honoree 10 NEBRASKA * TBA Taryn McCutcheon, the Spartans welcome back Head Coach ...................... Suzy Merchant (CMU, ‘91) 14 at Illinois * TBA Career Record ......................482-268/25th Season last year’s leading scorer, Nia Clouden. The junior 18 at Michigan * TBA MSU Record .......................... 281-148/14th Season guard led the way for MSU with 14.5 points and 3.3 21 INDIANA * TBA Media Relations Contact: ........................ Kara Fisher assists per game. She captured preseason All-Big 517-896-0724 / [email protected] honors earlier this month. Clouden has captured 24 at Wisconsin * TBA Website .......................................msuspartans.com all-league honors as a freshman and a sophomore. 28 MICHIGAN * TBA 31 at Indiana * TBA • Spartan head coach Suzy Merchant enters her 14th season at the helm the squad. She holds a FEBRUARY 281-148 record at MSU, along with a 482-268 career 4 ILLINOIS * TBA SAINT FRANCIS RED FLASH record. 7 NORTHWESTERN * TBA 10 at Maryland * TBA 2019-20 Record ...................................11-19 (9-9 NEC) Head Coach ...............Keila Whittington (Dillard ‘89) • Michigan State will be without all-time assist 13 at Penn State * TBA Career Record ............................11-19/2nd Season leader Taryn McCutcheon, who graduated and is 21 PURDUE * TBA SFU Record ...................................................Same now playing in Iceland. Victoria Gaines, Shay Colley 24 RUTGERS * TBA Media Relations Contact: ...............Maria Slovikovski and Nia Hollie have also graduated. Forward Kayla 27 at Nebraska * TBA 814-472-3180 / [email protected] Belles has transferred to BYU after getting married Website ........................................sfuathletics.com over the summer. March 5/6 WISCONSIN * TBA 9-13 Big Ten Tournament Indianapolis, Ind. PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP (BASED ON ‘19-20 STATS) * Big Ten Contest Pos. No. Name PPG RPG APG MPG Notables Home games in BOLD G 24 Nia Clouden (Jr., 5-8, Owings Mills, Md.) 14.5 4.0 3.3 30.8 Seven 20-point games G 22 Moira Joiner (So., 5-10, Saginaw, Mich.) 7.0 3.7 1.6 23.7 Career-high 11 rebounds vs. Minn. G/F 1 Tory Ozment (Jr., 6-1, Buford, Ga.) 5.2 2.7 1.2 16.6 Career high with 28 min. vs. U-M F 2 Mardrekia Cook (R-Sr., 6-0, Muskegon, Mich.) 5.8 2.6 0.4 14.3 Played 17 games before tearing achilles F 14 Taiyier Parks (So., 6-3, Cleveland, Ohio) 4.0 4.2 0.3 12.6 Avg. 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks/game KEY RESERVES G 40 Julia Ayrault (So., 6-2, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) 5.5 4.8 0.9 16.7 First in rebounds w/4.8 rpg G 3 Alyza Winston (So., 5-7, Muskegon, Mich.) 2.9 0.9 0.8 8.7 Tied-season high w/ 4 assists vs. UW G 21 Laurel Jacqmain (Sr., 5-8, Saginaw, Mich.) 0.5 0-7 0-0 5.2 MSU high three points vs. UDM facebook.com/MSU_WBasketball MSU_WBasketball MSU_WBasketball MSU.WBasketball 2020-21 Michigan State Women’s Basketball 1 Game 1 vs. Saint Francis 2020-21 MICHIGAN STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL NATIONAL POLLS No. Name Pos. Ht. Yr. Hometown/Last School Pronunciation AP Women’s Top 25 Poll (Preseason) 1 Tory Ozment F 6-1 Jr. Buford, Ga./Buford Rank School (Votes) Record Pts. 1 South Carolina (29) 0-0 749 2 Mardrekia Cook F 6-0 R-Sr. Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon Mar-DREEK-uh 2 Stanford (1) 0-0 698 3 Alyza Winston G 5-7 So. Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon Uh-lie-za 3 UConn 0-0 695 4 Baylor 0-0 663 4 Alisia Smith F 6-3 R-Jr. East Lansing, Mich./Waverly/Penn State Uh-LEE-see-uh 5 Louisville 0-0 597 6 Mississippi State 0-0 589 5 Claire Hendrickson G 5-11 R-Jr. Wyoming, Mich./Wyoming 7 Arizona 0-0 575 12 Lauren Rewers C 6-4 Gr. Coeur D’Alene, Idaho/Lake City/Hawai’i ROO-oars 8 NC State 0-0 556 9 UCLA 0-0 499 14 Taiyier Parks F 6-3 So. Cleveland, Ohio/North Royalton Tie-EAR 10 Oregon 0-0 472 20 Jayla James F 6-1 R-Jr. Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist/Penn State 11 Kentucky 0-0 464 12 Maryland 0-0 395 21 Laurel Jacqmain F 5-8 R-Sr. Saginaw, Mich./Saginaw Valley Jack-man 13 Texas A&M 0-0 383 22 Moira Joiner G 5-10 So. Saginaw, Mich./Hertiage Moy-ruh 14 Arkansas 0-0 354 15 Iowa State 0-0 284 23 Janai Crooms G 5-10 R-Jr. Cranston, R.I./St. Andrews/Ohio State Juh-NAY 16 Indiana 0-0 278 24 Nia Clouden G 5-8 Jr. Owings Mills, Md./St. Frances Knee-uh 17 Northwestern 0-0 275 18 Oregon State 0-0 240 40 Julie Ayrault G 6-2 So. Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North A-rawlt 19 DePaul 0-0 185 20 Ohio State 0-0 165 44 Kendall Bostic F 6-2 Fr. Kokomo, Ind./Northwestern Boss-tick 21 Gonzaga 0-0 137 50 Cydni Dodd C 6-5 So. Indianapolis, Ind. 22 Notre Dame 0-0 125 23 Syracuse 0-0 120 24 Missouri State 0-0 95 Head Coach: Suzy Merchant (MURR-chant) 25 Michigan 0-0 65 Associate Head Coach: Dean Lockwood Assistant Coach: Maria Fantanarosa (Fan-TAN-uh-rosa) Others receiving votes: Texas 24, South Da- kota 21, Florida State 12, North Carolina 10, Assistant Coach: Kristin Haynie (Hay-KNEE) Arizona State 6, Princeton 5, Marquette 4, South Dakota State 3, Boston College 2, Ten- nessee 1, Rutgers 1, Duke 1, South Florida 1, USC 1 USA Today Coaches Poll (Preseason) SPARTANS AT A GLANCE Rank School (Votes) Record Pts. 1 South Carolina (31) 0-0 799 2 Stanford (1) 0-0 740 University Information Team Information 3 UConn 0-0 732 Name .......................................... Michigan State University 2020-21 Overall Record ....................................................0-0 4 Baylor 0-0 702 Location ...............................East Lansing, Michigan 48824 2020-21 Big Ten Record ...................................................0-0 5 Louisville 0-0 663 Founded .........................................................................1855 2019-20 Postseason ........................................................N/A 6 NC State 0-0 601 7 Mississippi State 0-0 567 Enrollment .................................................................50,351 Letterwinners Returning/Lost .......................................10/5 8 Arizona 0-0 548 Nickname ............................................................... Spartans Starters Returning/Lost .................................................. 3/2 9 Oregon 0-0 539 Colors ........................................................ Green and White Newcomers ........................................................................ 5 10 UCLA 0-0 535 11 Maryland 0-0 456 Conference ...............................................................Big Ten 12 Kentucky 0-0 451 Division ........................................................NCAA Division I Spartan Program History 13 Texas A&M 0-0 377 President ................................................Dr. Samuel Stanley First Year ................................................................... 1972-73 14 Arkansas 0-0 360 Athletics Director ............................................Bill Beekman All-Time Record ............................................ 844-541 (.609) 15 Indiana 0-0 347 16 Northwestern 0-0 287 Senior Women’s Administrator ...................Jennifer Smith NCAA Tournament Appearances ......................................17 17 Oregon State 0-0 281 Faculty Representatives........................ Michael Kaplowitz (1991, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 18 Iowa State 0-0 253 Bonnie Knutson 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019) 19 DePaul 0-0 219 20 Gonzaga 0-0 192 Home Arena ....................................Breslin Center (14,797) NCAA Final Four Appearances ................................1 (2005) 21 Syracuse 0-0 149 All-Time Record at Breslin (since 1989) ...................333-107 All-Time NCAA Tournament Record ............................ 19-17 22 Ohio State 0-0 135 Ticket Office Phone ........... 517.355.1610 or 800.GO.STATE WNIT Appearances..........4 (1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2018) 23 Notre Dame 0-0 104 Breslin Center Press Row .................................517-353-1626 WNIT Record ..................................................................13-5 24 Michigan 0-0 84 25 Missouri State 0-0 76 Big Ten Championships .....................1997, 2005, 2011, 2014 Coaching Staff Big Ten Tournament Championships ...........................2005 Others receiving votes: Texas 72, South Head Coach ............Suzy Merchant (Central Michigan, 91) Dakota 25, Florida State 23, Iowa 13, North Carolina 11, Arizona State 11, South Florida 9, Overall Record (years) .................................482-268 (26) Athletic Communications Middle Tennessee 7, Rutgers 7, Virginia Tech MSU Record (years) ...................................... 281-148 (14) Asst Director/WBB Contact ................................Kara Fisher 6, Tennessee 4, Florida Gulf Coast 3, BYU 3, Associate Head Coach .........Dean Lockwood, First Season E-mail.................................................kfisher@ath.msu.edu Princeton 3, South Dakota State 2, James Assistant Coach ..............Maria Fantanarosa; Third Season Cell Phone ......................................................