B1G Game 18: Gophers visit Michigan State (3-1-25)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Reversal.

Last season, Michigan State and Minnesota (both led by first year Big Ten head coaches) met twice during conference play. On January 20th, the Gophers cruised to a 69-50 home victory behind an 18 point and 15 rebound out burst from Mallory Heyer. For emphasis, Heyer was 5-9 from three. Supporting a strong defensive effort, Sophie Hart scored 12, Grace Grocholski added 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Mara Braun contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds in 34 minutes.

The Spartans were led by the now departed DeeDee Hagermann with 18 points and Julia Ayrault with 9 points and 8 rebounds.

The win advanced Minnesota to 4-3 in the conference and dropped Michigan State to 3-4. It was to be the Gophers apex in the conference standings.

Hosting the February 5th return match in East Lansing, the Spartans prevailed 76-65. While Heyer posted 14 points and 11 rebounds, it was Janay Sanders leading the Gophers with 23 points. And unfortunately, the now injured Braun had started her injury stint. For MSU, it was Ayrault upping her game to 16 points and 7 rebounds.

The loss dropped Minnesota to 4-7 in conference play and elevated Sparty to 7-4. The Gophers finished conference play 5-13 while MSU finished 12-6 earning a trip to the NCAA tournament where they fell to North Carolina 59-56.

This Saturday’s regular season finale pits a 10-7 Michigan State versus an 8-9 Minnesota still searching for a signature win.

Three Spartans to watch:

MSU is lead by 6’3” junior forward and Oregon transfer Grace VanSlooten averaging 16.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in 27.4 minutes.

Theryn Halleck is a 5’10” junior guard averaging 15.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 27.4 minutes.

Julia Ayrault is a 6’2” graduate guard averaging 13.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in 27.1 minutes.

Here’s hoping Heyer can recapture her beast mode.
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I like how Torrie Mckinney has handled the ball up the court and her speed may be an asset against MSU press. She seemed hesitant to drive and shoot yesterday. The kid's got guts when she drives but other teams like to foul her really hard. Same with Grace. G she gets hammered a lot on drives to the basket. Hopefully the refs are not all home cooking on Saturday for the Spartans. Battle too, I notice she got chopped and hacked driving against Washington. Gophers are a little due for the refs to call some of these excessive riding plays, the bumps and blatant chops across the wrist. I know I'm a Homer but would like to see the Big 10 refs square up some of these calls. I know you have to play through it too, but Gophers are due some calls going into Big 10 tournament.
 
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some of the calls last night were baffling.. they called Amaya for a foul when she had her arms straight up defending Sellers and Sellers pushes off her, and they called the foul on Amaya.. I think 3 or 4 times they pushed Sophie without a single call.. we haven't gotten many calls the last two home games that's for sure.
 

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