Photo Credit: Alfred Laurence-Beige Planet Photography
MSU beat Oakland 107 to 42 to open the season on Tuesday. The elite scoring was led by Grace VanSlooten with 15 points and all of our active players found the net save for Helen Holley who only played four minutes and ended the game with a gravity defying block. The defense was firing on all cylinders as we came up with 22 steals (just 2 steals shy of a program record) and allowed 0 three-pointers to fall. Oakland shot just 31 percent from the field and had very limited scoring success outside of Maddy Skorupski the ex-Spartan combo guard. Rebounding was great on both ends for the Spartans, as we out rebounded Oakland 46 to 32 and created 17 second chances from offensive boards on just 35 missed shots.
The Identity of Our Guards is Becoming Clear:
With a lot of new faces wearing green and white it wasn’t obvious where everyone fit right away but after the exhibition game and season opener our abundance of guards seem to be settling into their roles. Hallock will continue to start at point guard and use her elite speed to keep our offense hot, but she’ll split time with Nyla Hampton who will stifle opposing guards and regularly gather steals, like the 5 she reeled in against Oakland. They both do a bit of everything with good three point shooting, handles, defense, and passing but their style is different and will be advantageous to switch them in and out and around to keep opponents guessing.
At shooting guard we started Shumate but gave more minutes to Simmons and equal minutes to Kimball. Simmons looks excellent defensively and recorded 3 steals and a block; she’s a capable distributor on offense and looks great driving the lane for a tight pass inside to our forwards or a big kick out to a 3 point shooter, she led the team in assists with 6. Her skill set fits in great with Fralick’s style of offense where everyone has to be able to pass and shoot effectively. Kimball and Shumate are both solid spot up shooters with good athleticism for defense and boards. Between them they shot 4 of 9 from behind the arc, Shumate got 2 blocks and Kimball 2 steals.
Tate and Ayrault are both do it all big tough guards who can defend 1-5, create their own shot, run, and pass. Ayrault switched to cover Skorupski on defense multiple times and kept up admirably with the shiftiness and speed Skorupski brings. Tate took the most shots for our team and continues to drive lanes and go up with a strong left hand, but she’s looking much more refined and had zero turnovers in the opener.
Photo Credit: Alfred Laurence-Beige Planet Photography
Our Bigs are Going to Eat this Season:
The combination of Ayrault and VanSlooten will be dangerous all year. Not every team will have two players over 6’2 that have a chance defending against our forwards’ skill sets, especially their passing to each other. Oakland did their best but sent the pair to free throw line for a combined 16 shots and couldn’t stop a barrage of passes to set VanSlooten up in the paint. The two of them accounted for 16 rebounds, over 1/3 of our total 46, and they should prevent us from being severely out rebounded even in Big 10 play, an area where we really struggled last year due to lack of size. Ayrault led our team in points last year and VanSlooten led the Oregon Ducks in points before transferring, so they’ve both proven themselves during the course of a season, but operating together will make each more formidable. The fact that Fralick is letting Ayrault defend the other team’s best player will help her display her talents in a way that should bolster her WNBA draft chances where she will likely play a small forward role.
Anyone Can Be a Scoring Threat:
This game we had 6 players reach double digit scores and we looked effective offensively in a bunch of different lineups. Much like last year, all our guards can pass and shoot so the scoring comes from whoever is left open on any given possession. We have players coming off the bench who can shoot confidently; 8 players took 5 or more shots this game, which is more than we had in rotation down the stretch last season.
Nyla Hampton sunk two threes in a row in the second quarter on her way to 8 points, after only taking one shot in the exhibition game. Kimball managed 10 points on a 60/50/100 split. Hallock got 5 of her 14 from the charity stripe and shot 44% from the field. Shumate only shot from deep but hit 40% herself. Tate looked very strong shooting 60%, and took at 2 of her 4 steals to the house, scoring 13 total. Kennedy Blair got 10 off the bench with multiple tough and-1s and 6 for 6 free throw shooting. VanSlooten and Ayrault are both likely to average over 10 points a game through the season. The potential to be an elite scoring team is there and Fralick is going to set them up to succeed if last year is any indication.
The Future is Bright:
The 4th quarter featured our depth players including all the freshmen as the game was well in hand already. It looked pretty clean for garbage minutes as Kennedy Blair ran the offense well and each of the freshmen got to show off the qualities that make them so exciting. Sinai Douglas had only seven minutes and is still regaining strength after rehabilitating a torn ACL but she managed a nifty steal and then sunk a three immediately after, both things she was known for in high school. Ines Sotelo is getting minutes before garbage time and looks very smooth with the handle and her passing, especially for a young 6’3 player. She managed 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 points in her 15 minutes of play, but also contributed to some team rebounds by tapping it to a guard from up high. She had less exciting scoring plays than she did in the exhibition, and did get beat once by a cutter but overall looks like a great bench player to spell the other forwards.
Juliann Woodard decided all she needed was the ball. After a disappointing exhibition game where she was left wide open multiple times but didn’t get the rock slung her way, she had much better luck against Oakland scoring 3 of her 4 shots with 2 of 3 from deep and an impressive drive in layup. This paired with a stronger defensive showing helped prove why she’s our highest rated domestic recruit in the 2024-25 class. Kennedy Blair is looking strong seeking contact at the rim. The redshirt freshman may find more minutes if she continues to score and draw fouls the way she has, but she needs to protect the ball better as she had three turnovers. Mary Meng, who also redshirted last season due to injury, looked good defensively and managed 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal in her 10 minutes. Having a 6’5 center will help us in some tough defensive situations and give our point guards a big target in the paint, so it’s good to see her get some experience. Our only player not to score was Helen Holley but she grabbed a super high offensive board, fought for a jump ball, forced a turnover, and leaped to the ceiling for a dominant block at the end of the game. Between them the 6 freshmen scored 25 points, and showed some good signs of improvement already. Fralick came in strong with recruiting and it will likely pay off throughout the early part of her tenure.
Comments