MSU Women's Basketball Upset by Wisconsin in Big Ten Opener

No. 20 Michigan State women's basketball was rolling to start the season. The Spartans entered Wisconsin on Sunday night 8-0, but suffered their first loss of the campaign to the Badgers, 78-64.

Wisconsin pulled off the upset by shutting down MSU's and head coach Robyn Fralick's fast-paced offense. Michigan State entered the game averaging 96.4 points per game; the Spartans' 64 points are the fewest this season.

The Badgers led nearly the entire game, 39:23 of it, to be exact. MSU's only lead, a 15-14 advantage in the first quarter, lasted a mere 27 seconds. Leading the way for Wisconsin was Gift Uchenna, who finished with 14 points, 15 rebounds, and seven blocks.

Michigan State falls to 8-1 overall, but more importantly, 0-1 in Big Ten play. The Badgers rose to 7-3 overall and 1-0 during conference play on the season. The Spartans will return to non-conference action next, with a trip to DePaul (2-8 overall, 0-2 Big East) set for next Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

How the Badgers Did It

Wisconsin forward Gift Uchenna (15) listens to head coach Robin Pingeton during the second half of their exhibition game against UW-River Falls Monday, October 27, 2025 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What didn't help MSU was that they were without starting guard Theryn Hallock, who averages 10.9 points, 3.1 assists, and 2.4 steals per game. The Spartans have also been without center Ines Sotelo all season thus far, and star forward Grace VanSlooten was limited to just 20 minutes on Sunday.

Still, credit must be given to Wisconsin for controlling that game all the way through and finishing with a convincing margin of victory. A big reason for this is that the Badgers found ways to severely limit the things Michigan State is so good at.

Something that stands out in the box score is that MSU only had four steals. The Spartans entered the game averaging 16.1 per game, which was fifth in the nation and the second-most among high-major teams (Notre Dame).

Turnovers were even at 11-11. That's a stat where Michigan State had especially thrived up to this point, with an average margin of plus-17.25, the best in the country.

The Spartans also went just 5-for-22 (22.7%) from three. MSU had averaged 10.3 made threes entering Sunday (seventh nationally), and had shot it at a 43.2% clip (second in the country). Wisconsin was the team raining threes instead, shooting 11-of-24 (45.8%) from out there.

One of the bright spots for Michigan State was the performance of redshirt sophomore Kennedy Blair. She finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, which were either a team-high or tied for a team-high in all three of those stats. She's made a big jump this season, going from averaging 3.4 points per game to now averaging 13.0.

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