When jokingly asked Wednesday if she was going to miss this past season’s role of taking upward of 30 shots a game, redshirt junior Aerial Powers replied "no" before the reporter could even finish his question.
The 6-foot forward spent part of her summer abroad as a member of the USA Basketball World University Games team, which won a gold medal in South Korea. Powers averaged a double-double this past season, with 21.9 points and 12.1 rebounds per game, and was a unanimous All-Big Ten preseason selection.
“Last year, playing that many minutes, I felt like I couldn’t give 100 percent effort all the time, and with the new girls we have coming in, they’re going to help me a lot,” Powers said.
Powers led a group in 2014, which at one point in the season only had seven available players due to injuries, a phenomenon head coach Suzy Merchant called “bizarre circumstances.”
Powers wasn’t alone, however, as junior guard Tori Jankoska was able to step her game up, as well as help MSU pull out a winning record, 16-15.
"They're two of the top five scorers in the Big Ten, exciting players to watch, do a lot of different things on both sides of the ball for us."MSU women's basketball head coach Suzy Merchant
“They're two of the top five scorers in the Big Ten, exciting players to watch, do a lot of different things on both sides of the ball for us,” Merchant said.
Jankoska averaged 17.5 points, 3.9 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game during the 2014-15 season and was voted as an All-Big Ten preseason player by the media. Jankoska was among the 50-plus players invited to try out for the USA team this past summer and has the fourth best three-point shooting percentage in the program’s history at 37 percent.
“Last year we had all the injuries, which really played a part,” Jankoska said. “We had to try to play with seven people and do what you could to get through the game. We couldn’t really focus on getting better.”
Merchant said with Powers, Jankoska and a healthy supporting cast, the combinations this team can put on the court will be able to play with any team in the country.
“We returned 80 percent of our offense, over 60 percent of our rebounding,” Merchant said. “And then you add that to the fold of the 22nd ranked recruiting class in the country with some new faces, eight new faces, six freshmen and a couple of transfers, and it's been an exciting time in practice. I have to say, it's very competitive. We have tremendous point guard play. We are athletic. We're big. We're deep. We bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I mean, it's a really exciting time.”
The Spartans open their season with three straight home games — the first against Western Michigan on Nov. 15 and the two following games against Georgia and Idaho State. The team will then pack its bags and head to the Bahamas on Nov. 27 to play against Cincinnati and Baylor in the Junkanoo Jam.
