But Friday? Not so much.

Fox, a first team All-Big Ten selection, was held in check by freshman guard Brittney Thomas, scoring seven points on 2-of-14 shooting as the Spartans knocked off Minnesota, 56-51, at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Thomas deflected some of the credit to her teammates, but MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said Thomas, “took on the personal challenge,” to contain Fox.

“That is not an easy task,” Merchant said. “Emily Fox is one of the best guards I’ve seen in a long time. She’s smart, she can score a lot of different ways and she makes everyone else around her better. Brittney gave credit to the team and that’s the kind of kid she is, but I don’t think anyone deserves more credit in this win than Brittney on the defensive end.”

Thomas said guarding Fox required a lot of hustle.

“We decided to start switching ball-screens so she wouldn’t get any open looks,” Thomas said. “I think we just really frustrated her because she had to work so hard for every basket that she got … we made her work really hard and I don’t think she was used to that.”

Thomas finished off a solid all-around night with 12 points and seven rebounds in 39 minutes.

“Brittney’s defense on Emily Fox, for 40 minutes, was special,” assistant coach Rick Albro said. “Our camp felt that Brittney was very deserving of All-Conference defensive team. I know there’s a couple girls that have more steals than her, but we count on her to be able to shut down the best perimeter player on the other team and she did one heck of a job tonight.”

Upset city
The Spartans will move on to face No. 9 seed Illinois in the semifinals tomorrow night.

The Fighting Illini are coming off an emotional 64-58 win over No. 1 seed Ohio State, a game in which they never trailed by more than four.

Guard Rebecca Harris, who averages 9.2 points per game, exploded for 22 against the Buckeyes.

But the game will mark the third in three days for the Illini, which could be a challenge for a depth-challenged team.

Only Thomas played over 35 minutes for MSU, which saw four players play over 13 minutes off the bench.

“You’re going to have some tired legs out there,” Albro said. “It’s going to be who can focus, knowing you’re a little bit tired. Mental toughness is going to very important tomorrow.”

Only the five starters saw more than 12 minutes of action against Wisconsin on Thursday while only six players saw time Friday.

“We do have a deeper bench,” Albro said. “And we’re going to need quality bench minutes tomorrow.”