EAST LANSING – The breakthrough was coming for this Michigan State team.
The Spartans nearly upset a top-five Iowa team on the road on Jan. 2 before Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the game.
A week later, they were tied in the fourth quarter on the road against a ranked Ohio State team before falling by five, 70-65.
On Saturday at the Breslin Center, the breakthrough came in the form of a dominant 82-61 win over Michigan to break a three-game losing streak in the series.
Michigan isn’t as highly ranked as those other two. But the dominating manner in which the Spartans won the rivalry matchup – the 21-point margin of victory was the Spartans’ largest in the series since 2016 – made the game feel like a breakthrough.
First-year coach Robyn Fralick, who became the first Michigan State coach to win their debut game against Michigan since Karen Langland in 1977, called the day a “scrapbook day.”
Two days later, though, she was closing that scrapbook was looking toward the future. The Spartans will look to harness the energy from that win and take it on the road when it takes on Rutgers (6-16, 0-9) on Tuesday (7 p.m., Big Ten plus)
“Now our challenge is a test of our maturity,” Fralick said. “I think you come off of a game like that, great crowd, rivalry, tons of energy. I thought from the start we played with great focus and passion, and the reality is in our season that you’ve got to do it again. We’ve got to show up and have that same level of focus.”
In their first year under Fralick, the Spartans have taken on an exciting, uptempo style of play. Their 86.7 points per game are third-most in the Big Ten and they’ve made 9.4 3-pointers per game this season, second only to Iowa in the conference.
Senior guard Moira Joiner averages a team-high 15.2 points per game, one of six Michigan State players to average nine points or more per game. Junior point guard DeeDee Hagemann directs that offense while averaging 13 points and 4.6 assists per game.
That style has also brought the Spartans to 15-5 and 5-4 in Big Ten play. At the midway point of the Big Ten schedule, the Spartans can now realistically look toward returning to the NCAA Tournament in 2024; the most recent bracket projection by ESPN has the Spartans as a No. 8 seed in the field.
For veterans on this team who have missed the last two NCAA Tournaments, getting back to March Madness would be plenty meaningful.
“I think it’s kind of like a redemption year,” Spartans senior forward Tory Ozment said. We’ve missed out on the tournament, we haven’t really been where we would like to be. So these are the games that matter the most, everyone’s tired, everyone’s a little down, people have injuries. But we just have to stay consistent with our identity and I think everyone’s bought into that.’
While she’s happy her team will enter February with something to play for, Fralick knows there’s still more to do. Saturday marked the first time her team has won consecutive Big Ten games this season. Top-10 games against Indiana and Ohio State still remain on the schedule, plus a rematch with Michigan in Ann Arbor.
But after getting its breakthrough win, her team will spend the rest of the season with something to play for.
“We’ve had some good home wins, but the reality is we need some more,” Fralick said. “We need some more good home wins and we’ve got to find ways to steal some on the road, too.”