MSU came to Indianapolis as a team with lots of potentials, but a bumpy up-and-down regular-season resume left a lot of people wondering if they were a real threat to make a run at the Big Ten tournament and later this month at the NCAA tournament.
Despite falling just short of reaching their first Big Ten championship game since 2016, they proved that they are a threat to any team that takes the court against them.
Head coach Suzy Merchant said that the survive and advance atmosphere here at the tournament helped the team perform at a high level.
The Spartans repeatedly fought and clawed back from early deficits, refusing to give up any hope of winning until the full 40 minutes were up.
This week, Nia Clouden proved that she is one of the elite guards in the country, and when she is on her A-game, she alone makes the Spartans a tough matchup for any team.
Clouden scored over 20 points in two of the three games MSU played, in one game almost single-handedly winning them the game against Indiana.
Clouden said the team's energy and ability to fight are the key to their success when they get to the NCAA tournament. If that is the case, then the Spartans are in good shape having fought back from behind in their first two games this week.
MSU did show some weak spots in their game during this tournament, highlighted by a few slow starts that they were able to overcome and shaky play from some of their role players, but they plan to go back to the drawing board and look to make adjustments going forward.
“We did some good things, but again, we just need some more consistency out of our top kids,” Merchant said. “When Nia scores we still need Alyza (Winston) to score.”
While Winston had a standout performance against Penn State, she fell flat against Iowa. And while freshman Kendall Bostic had a career game, scoring 13 points off the bench against Iowa, the performance of the role players has to be much more consistent for MSU to make a deep tournament run in March.
MSU was also bitten by the injury bug during the Big Ten tournament, as they lost Tory Ozment to injury against Indiana, while Taiyier Parks, Alisia Smith and Moira Joiner all played through injuries in Indianapolis, and when you play three games in three days, injuries definitely hinder the ability to get into a rhythm.
“We’ve had so many kids in and out," Merchant said. "It’s been difficult to keep a flow."
MSU misses players like Ozment and Julia Ayrault, but they feel like being able to perform well without them will set them up for success and have all players ready to make an impact whenever they are needed.
MSU looks forward to a chance to rest and get healthy as they head back to East Lansing and await their fate for the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday.
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