EAST LANSING, Mich. – Playing their first road game of the 2022-23 season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies were defeated by the Big Ten Conference's (B1G) Michigan State Spartans, 85-39, on Tuesday, November 15 at the Breslin Center.

This was a single-digit game after one quarter of play, 23-15, but the second quarter saw Michigan State outscore the Golden Grizzlies by 16 points, giving the Spartans a 43-19 halftime lead and the opportunity to extend their cushion in the second half.

Michigan State moves to 4-0, while Oakland is now 2-1.

Although they racked up 85 points, the Spartans did not have one player light it up with a career night or anything like that, as junior guard Gabby Elliott – a former Clemson Tiger, one of four transfers on head coach Suzy Merchant's roster – led the way with 12 points, followed by freshman Theryn Hallock, sophomores Isaline Alexander and Matilda Ehk and senior Taiyier Parks, all of whom had nine.

Playing 17 minutes off the bench, junior Sug Williams scored a team-high seven for the Golden Grizzlies, with sophomore Aaliyah McQueen hitting a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers to finish with six. Junior Linda Van Schaik also had a solid night, tallying five points, seven rebounds and three assists over her 22 minutes.

A tall, athletic team that has a strong chance of receiving votes in the next Associated Press Top 25, Michigan State utilized a full-court pressure defense for much the contest, rattling Oakland into a season-worst 29 turnovers.

Compounding the issues, the Golden Grizzlies shot just 22.8 percent (13-of-57), including 15.8 percent (3-of-19) from 3-point range.

"In the first quarter, we were battling back-and-forth, controlling the tempo of the game, then we gave up three uncontested 3's, just a lack of communication and it just all fell apart after that," head coach Jeff Tungate said.

"They're a good team, they're a really good team, but the turnovers and then not making shots. Once we stopped making shots and started turning the ball over, we couldn't recover."

With a tilt against the Illinois Fighting Illini looming on Monday, November 21, Tuesday's action represented the first of consecutive B1G road games for Oakland. Tungate likes scheduling major conference competition like this early in the season as it gives his team a chance to measure themselves and identify areas that need improvement before Horizon League play begins.

"We've got to spend a lot of time on our press breaker," he shared. "Spend a lot of time on our press breaker and offensively, when our shot's not falling, we've got to find other ways to score."

There was a bright spot to come out of Tuesday, as a trio of Golden Grizzly freshmen – Lianna Baxter, Cam Grant and Eva Pardo-Campillo – recorded their first career collegiate points in the game.

Baxter's came with 2:15 left in the third, while Grant grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in with 4:22 remaining in the fourth and Pardo-Campillo buried a 3-pointer right in front of the Oakland bench with 18 seconds left for the game's final points.

"It's great to see them have that happen and be able to make a shot like that," Tungate said. "We're going to need people to step up down the road for us, so we've got to put this behind us and get ready for Illinois next."

Monday's 8 p.m. clash with the Fighting Illini at the State Farm Center will air live on BTN+ (subscription required) and can be accessed here. It is also Illinois' "Friendsgiving" theme night.

The Golden Grizzlies and Fighting Illini have squared off twice before, splitting a home-and-home in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons that saw the home team win both contests, with Illinois claiming the former and Oakland the latter.