Michigan State Women’s Basketball Survives Colorado State, 65-62

Michigan State's Grace VanSlooten, center, hugs fellow senior Emma Shumate during the fourth quarter in the game against Northwestern on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images On Friday night, the Michigan State Women’s Basketball Team looked every bit as rusty as you would expect from a team that has not played since March 5 (and hasn’t won a game since February 22).

After losing their position as a four-seed, and the hosting of first weekend games that comes with it, the Spartans came out in this NCAA Tournament opener ice cold. Despite being a 17. 5-point favorite, MSU found themselves playing from behind for a large portion of the matchup with the 12-seeded Rams.

The Spartans scored the first bucket of the game, a 3-pointer from Jalyn Brown, but then did not score for about five minutes. Fortunately, the Rams were not lighting up the scoreboard either. In the second part of the first quarter, MSU did retake the lead and were up by 3 after 1.

The second quarter saw MSU struggle even more than they did in the opening stanza, managing only 11 points, and they trailed at halftime 29-27. After hitting the opening triple, the Spartans missed the other 8 attempts they took from deep prior to the break. Michigan State had their largest point output in the third quarter, putting up 20 and bringing the game to a tie heading to the final ten minutes.