For the second time this week, the women's basketball team faces a Big Ten team it hasn't seen this season when it takes on Iowa today.
Despite the reduced preparation time for the matchup due to the Spartans' game on Monday, junior forward Julie Pagel said the Spartans (15-10 overall, 8-6 Big Ten) aren't worried.
Heading into Tuesday's practice Pagel said the team didn't know much about this year's Hawkeyes (14-11, 6-8) but still had two days to soak up information, combined with a few veterans to aid the learning.
"Our plan is always to take one game at a time," Pagel said. "We worked on (Illinois), and for Iowa we'll have to take the lessons learned from previous years and games, and just go out and play like we play when we're good."
Iowa has had an extra day to prepare for MSU, as the Hawkeyes last saw action against Wisconsin on Sunday, downing the Badgers 76-59 in Madison. Guard Kristi Faulkner headed the Hawkeye offense with 29 points while forward Johanna Solverson had a strong showing on the boards with a nine-rebound performance.
In addition to leading Iowa in scoring with 16.4 points per game, Faulkner's average ranks fourth in the conference. Forward Jennie Lillis follows a close fifth with 16.3 points each contest.
Lillis also leads the squad and is fifth in the Big Ten on the boards, averaging 7.2 rebounds per game.
The Hawkeyes sport a 10-2 record at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, with the only losses coming against Illinois and then-No. 16 Minnesota. Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder made no effort to hide the fact a NCAA Tournament bid might be riding on the game's outcome, stressing a victory would mean great postseason potential.
"I think this Michigan State game is going to be very important because we only play them once this year and they're ahead of us in the conference standings," Bluder said. "If we can beat them, our RPI is higher than theirs so that would, to me, mean a good sign of us going. If they're going to go we should go too."
The 8 p.m. contest marks MSU's last away game of the regular season. The road has not been kind to the Spartans this year but by winning three of their last four on the road MSU has salvaged a 5-6 record away from Breslin Center. Today's game is also the second in a three-game week for MSU, something Spartan head coach Joanne P. McCallie looked on as a positive, not tiring, experience for her squad.
"It's one of those things we don't control and it's a good measure of our toughness," McCallie said. "We have to develop and be a tougher team, so we might as well have some challenges put forth in front of us and see what we can do."
On Sunday the Spartans dropped a 75-65 decision to Illinois.
The 10-point defeat was MSU's worst this season, and put the team on a two-game slide. The Illini also outrebounded the Spartans 35-28, becoming just the fourth team this season to do so.
On the positive side, five Spartans reached double digits in scoring. Sophomore guard Kristin Haynie shined above all, contributing game-highs of 13 points and seven rebounds, while adding six assists and three steals in the loss.
MSU hung close to the Fighting Illini the entire game but guard Janelle Hughes surprised the Spartan defense with a career-high 17 points. Prior to the game, Hughes averaged 2.5 tallies per contest.
"I would say that's a pretty good turnaround," McCallie said of Hughes' performance. "We didn't adjust well to that. That was pretty much the game, having somebody who doesn't ordinarily do anything, step up and do a lot."
