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Host Nick Lundberg discusses all updated MSU sports events, from women's soccer NCAA run to MSU's men's and women's basketball teams in the Phil Knight Invitational.
The State News sports reporters discuss all MSU sports.
Nick Lundberg 0:10
Welcome back, everyone. My name is Nick Lundberg. And this is the Sports Roundtable, your end-of-the-week sports update on all things Michigan State. We didn't have a pod last week because of Thanksgiving break. So it's good to be back. And now I'm life from The State News with Maddy Warren, our hockey reporter. How was your Thanksgiving break, Maddy?
Maddy Warren 0:26
It was really great. It was nice to have a relaxing break away from work and school. (Hi! - Editor)
Nick Lundberg 0:32
Yeah, that's always good. But we missed a lot for the past two weeks, so let's just jump right into it. First with women's soccer. Their season came to an end against playoff season and five TCU in the NCAA tournament. They lost one to nil a couple of weeks ago. And I mean, this year, they had just about an amazing season. No one really thought that this would you know would have happened this season they had 17 wins, which is a program record.
Nick Lundberg 0:59
They won a Big Ten regular season championship. So many players got countless accurate accolades Lauren Kozal was named Big Ten goalie of the year, Lauren DeBeau, named Big Ten for the year among others. And I mean Maddy you've been around Michigan State now since you're a senior this your senior year from the jump. I don't know if you've ever been a huge women's soccer fan or not. But from the jump when you were here and to see them go from that kind of one last season, earlier in your MSU career to now where they're at, you know, setting program records and with a new head coach and Jeff Hosler, as we've talked about before, but if you can, can you talk about just the progress this program has made over the years since you've seen them when you were here?
Maddy Warren 1:48
Yeah, I think, like you said, Jeff Hosler has done a great job, you know, turning around the program I think there are a lot of new head coaches that MSU right now who are doing, you know, really great things for their programs, a lot of young teams. But yeah, I think it's really impressive. And, you know, we have to give them credit for what they've done so far, obviously hosting the first tournament game here. Yeah, I think they had a really great season. And that shows.
Nick Lundberg 2:17
Yeah, they definitely brought a lot of excitement to the program. They broke multiple records for for attendance at Demartin, like you said they've hosted their first-ever NCAA Tournament game. And I mean, this is just Hosler's second year. So we'll see what goes from here. He brought in this recruiting class coming in as ten new players. So we'll see how they kind of develop and they've got they're losing a lot of talent this offseason. But they're also bringing in a lot of talent. And then they've still got players to build around. Like freshmen who made all freshmen teamers Emerson Sargeant, and Jordyn Wickes off the bench a scored seven goals, she was a super sub. So they've got the talent to, I think, stay where they at where they had success this season, and maybe even make a deep, deeper run next year in the tournament, but safe to say that the future is very, very bright for this team.
Nick Lundberg 3:14
But moving on to a sport you covered earlier in the season, volleyball also seems to have a pretty bright future as well. They lost while we were gone, they lost to Illinois, and then they won at Northwestern and first Rutgers. And then they lost to Iowa to kind of round out their season. They finished with the record of 13 and 18 and four and 16 in conference play. And I talked about this on a previous podcast. But while the record doesn't show that they had a favorable season, the end of the season getting those wins after that really rough stretching, conference play really helps. I just wanted to know your thoughts on when you were there covering the team for the season. What did you see? Are you what are your expectations for next year and that kind of stuff?
Maddy Warren 3:57
Yeah, definitely. So I covered the kind of first half of the season before hockey really started. And I just think that Leah Johnson is kind of building a really important culture. I think she really believes in her players. And they have a lot of young players who have had a lot of success this year, like Aliyah Moore and Maradith O'Gorman specifically, they've been good leg scores on the team. And obviously, they had some close matches with some teams who are ranked and who are supposed to be better than them. But you know, in those sets, even though they lost the match, they were really like right there with them had some like 25-27 you know, sets. Yeah, I would just say that she's doing coach Johnson's doing a really good job so far. And I think they have, like you said, a really bright future ahead, especially now that they're playing at the Breslin center. I think that's gonna drop more hands and kind of get some excitement going around in the program here.
Nick Lundberg 4:52
That was another thing. Like I mentioned with women's soccer, the record for program attendance for volleyball was also set that season. Like you said, They moved to the Breslin center this year. And I think it was the game against Michigan, right where they said it.
Maddy Warren 5:05
Yes, it was. I was there for that game. And I remember, they had to open up like the upper deck because it was just like overflowing in the lower bowl. So I think people are definitely excited. And obviously, they ended up losing that game, but it was really close. And I think I remember like one set, I can't remember how many points but it like went past like the 25. So it was, yeah, it was really interesting to see how excited people in the area are about volleyball.
Nick Lundberg 5:34
It's always good to see those kinds of sports getting more and more recognition for just about like what they've been doing over the course of the season. And for a young staff like Leah Johnson for a while now going into next year. It's gonna be a second year but with all these new players, all the new staff, her be her being her first year. It's good to see all of this excitement kind of wound up earlier in the year, but it's also good, like I was saying in previous podcasts, that they ended their season with a couple of wins to kind of push that momentum to the next year, especially with the young team that's very important. So it's also next year for women's volleyball is going to be very exciting as well.
Nick Lundberg 6:12
But in the past couple of weeks, I've been shouting out the cross country team because they've been making some rounds throughout the MSU campus and recently, Katie Osika earned all-American honors at the Cross Country NCAA championships, so I just wanted to shout them out. They've been, you know, making waves.
Nick Lundberg 6:31
But moving on to basketball. I was curious. Maddy, did you catch any of the action this past couple of weeks?
Maddy Warren 6:37
Um, yeah, I watched, I think one of the three when there were three games in the Portland tournament, that Phil Knight Invitational. Obviously, basketball I think is surprising a lot of people this year, I covered a couple media days with Mel earlier in the season and just kind of got some preseason buzz going around with them. I think Joey Hauser in particular has kind of been a leader and kind of stepped up. I wrote a feature about him earlier in before the season started. And so I think yeah, it'll be interesting to see where they go.
Nick Lundberg 7:14
Yeah, so they've they went to one, and the Phil Knight Invitational like you said, as of now they're ranked 20th in the country. And they were dealing with some injuries during the PKI tournament when Malik Hall is sidelined for the next couple of weeks. Akins is still questionable throughout this week. So the bench really stepped up I really liked what I saw from Pierre Brooks shooting the ball efficiently. Jason Whitens offered some good minutes for Jaden Akins a spot, and Tre Holloman as a freshman, came in and defended really well. Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper, we know that the depth behind is not, you know, the greatest but it was good to see them kind of step up and take roles for themselves. So overall, it was a very successful tournament for the team sides Alabama has insane size, and it just really threw them off in that first game, especially without Malik and Aikens, but, but for them to rebound, like they did for the next two games, it was just it was good to see out of that team, and hopefully they can keep kind of this momentum going forward.
Nick Lundberg 8:18
But on the woman's side of things, they dropped both their games in the PKI. Last by about, I think it was 32 to fifth-ranked Iowa State the game was not pretty at all as Matilda Ekh didn't play the offense, couldn't get it going. Iowa State was just too big. They were just too quick; they shot the lights out. And it was it was a tough game.
Nick Lundberg 8:42
But they also lost in their next game to Oregon. They showed some fight in that one, though. And it was very good to see even though they couldn't pull out when they were down by 17 at one point. And then they came back to even things up at like around 10-15 minutes later, but Matilda Ekh played in that one, and Kamaria McDaniel had 28 points kind of taken over as that kind of Nia cloud and type score in that one. So it's just it was good to see the fight from that team in those two games, but we'll see what happens with them going forward. They'll need definitely need someone like Ekh or McDaniel to continue to step on the score if they want to continue to win some of these big games.
Nick Lundberg 9:21
But moving on to your specific beat hockey, now they are ranked 13th in the country. They'll face Minnesota, and they're in a home-to-game home series for a battle of the top of the Big 10. And while we were gone, they went three in one versus Penn State and Miami. They lost one game to Penn State then they swept Miami. And we also were talking about the Jagger Joshua incident a little bit so we'll get into that but what have you seen from this team since you've kind of stepped in on the beat and just you know I mean, they've been exceptional. What can you say about their performance this season?
Maddy Warren 9:58
Yeah, so obviously, anybody who knows MSU hockey knows they haven't been amazing the last decade or so. But they're definitely already starting to make national news and people I think Adam Nightingale it's his first year behind the bench, and he's really starting, I think people are starting to take notice. They're obviously their first line in particular, which, as you mentioned, Jagger Joshua was a part of. I think they all lead, like the top three goal-scorers. So we got there just on the upper right now. And I think it's it'll be really good to see, especially this weekend, we'll tell get an indicator of where they're at. And if they can really compete with some of these bigger teams.
Nick Lundberg 10:41
Yeah, Minnesota will definitely be no joke. And I saw that not in coordination with the incident, the racial slur incident with Ohio State, Ohio State player that occurred that Jagger will be sitting for one of the Minnesota games. Could you get more go more into that?
Maddy Warren 10:57
Yeah, so he actually sat last weekend against Miami.
Nick Lundberg 11:01
Oh sorry.
Maddy Warren 11:01
No it's okay; it was the first game against Miami that he sat out of. I didn't cover those games for The State News. But I did watch them. It was because of his penalty minutes, he currently leads the nation with 53 penalty minutes. And so I think they were kind of trying to, I think Nightingale was trying to like, set an example a little bit. And he mentioned in his press conference yesterday that he wanted to, you know, they talk about discipline a lot. And you know, playing with discipline. So I think it was kind of a kind of a way to not really punish him, but just kind of like to set the tone and be like, Okay, this is what you don't want to do. So yeah, he set out against Miami on Friday, and then he came back on Saturday, so he will be playing against Minnesota.
Nick Lundberg 11:02
Okay, that's, that'll be good to see for the team. And like you said, what Nightingale did to kind of, you know, give the team a little message that you can't get away with that kind of stuff. And for a young coach to do that on a new team. It's very applaudable. And Nightingale, this season has been exceptional. from anyone, no matter who your fan of what perspective you have. It's just that everything about the season for Michigan State has been incredible. And it's going to be a very good series this weekend to get to Minnesota for a battle at the top of the big time.
Nick Lundberg 12:24
But moving on to football and their season is finally, finally over. They were in the news as of late, they've been fined 100 grand for the Michigan tunnel incident. The university has lost Michigan was reprimanded and we heard Izzo's grievance with that kind of with the what happened with everything. All the players for Michigan State were reinstated besides Khary Crump who had the felony charge. And when I listened to what Izzo had to say I agreed, to a certain extent with his statement about how Michigan only had only been reprimanded for these kinds of things this isn't the first time thing with Penn State had trouble with that earlier this year, Ohio State added a couple of years back, but for the players to be kind of like throwing helmets and stuff.
Nick Lundberg 13:13
And since this fine is the most I believe ever in Big Ten history with 100 grand, I believe the previous highest was 40. But just with everything, I think the stakes were a little bit higher with what happened and I think you have an like, we kind of needed more of a definition of what reprimanded means. Because they kind of just get like a public slap, slap up to the face, but nothing, nothing like 100 grand so it's just I was I agree with Izzo to an extent on is opinions about the matter. But what do you think, Maddy?
Maddy Warren 13:47
Yeah, I think the Big Ten is just like, like you said, reprimanded. I think that's kind of vague. And obviously, as we saw with the Jagger Joshua incident, how the Big Ten kind of said that they weren't going to punish the Ohio State player any further because there wasn't enough evidence just kind of, it seems like there's kind of a lack of I don't know, like, there's not a lot of like transparency, accountability. Yeah. It's just kind of their conscious kind of being vague, very vague about everything and just pushing it to the back burner. So it was it's, I don't know. It's just interesting. Why they were making these decisions?
Nick Lundberg 14:25
Yeah, definitely. I agree that the Big Ten does need to have more transparency and take more accountability for others.
Nick Lundberg 14:33
On the other side of these issues. I think Mel Tucker and the whole university handled our side of the situation very, very greatly. And everything that needed to be done was done. So I commend everything that they did, but they could have used those players that were just reinstated in this last game against Penn State. They lost in their last game of the season, to move the record to five and seven, and we'll see if there's a chance that ballgame, but that's only if some of the other teams don't take it. And I mean, we at MSU didn't even have enough bodies to practice in these last couple of games this year. And that's just how bad the injury bug has been for this season.
Nick Lundberg 15:15
Overall, this was a very disappointing season for all Michigan State fans. The loss to, like Minnesota early in the season, really kind of, you know, that's when people knew that this was not going to be pretty. And it was just not after the year they had last year to kind of regress like this was very just not, not the best look for the team. But you know, like, there's always the same there's always next year. So we'll see what kind of recruits from the portal and from high school Tucker can bring in to kind of change what happened this season.
Nick Lundberg 15:49
Obviously, the injury (wave) was huge, like I mentioned, all throughout the season with Xavier Henderson missing time, Jacob Slate missing time, Darius Snow out for the season, Blime had some, the O-line had some injury bugs, and just all around the team was just hampered by injuries all season long. And Maddy, I know you're a big Michigan State football fan. How would you describe what you saw from the team this season there? And what would you say? Are your expectations for them moving forward?
Maddy Warren 16:16
Yeah, I mean, obviously, I was definitely surprised. I don't think anybody expected five and seven. I mean, the drop-off was so big. I mean, I think obviously, we knew that we weren't going to be as they weren't going to be as good as last year with, you know, Kenneth Walker leaving for the NFL. But I just think I think now it's all about how they respond. Next season, I think Mel Tucker and the crew have some work to do on the offseason. And, like you mentioned, the transfer portal. That's his favorite thing. So I think it'll be it'll be a really telltale sign come next spring and a little probably be some quarterback competition as well. So it's just all about how they answer, I think, and what comes next.
Nick Lundberg 16:55
Yeah, no, I definitely agree. And I mean, there's always there's been some buzz about Dante Moore, a five-star QB from Detroit, possibly coming here with the firing of their of Oregon's offensive coordinator who is committed to right now. So I mean, who knows, with all this NFL stuff and recruiting, anybody can flip anywhere, anybody can transfer at any time. So that's, I mean, and there is also competition behind Thorne like you said, and that'll be kind of an interesting battle next year between Noah Kim is he saw some looks this season. We all know Katin Houser was the guy coming in last year as a freshman as a four-star QB, one of Mel Tucker's biggest recruits in his time here, so that competition will be interesting, to say the least. But as of now, we are kind of just focusing on if the team will get a bowl game. There's still a little bit of speculation that that might happen, but nothing's for sure. So we'll keep you updated about what goes on. But that's about all the time we have here today. I wanted to say thank you, Maddy, for coming on and talking about sports. MSU sports.
Maddy Warren 18:00
Yeah, thank you for having me. Had a fun time. (Bye!)
Nick Lundberg 18:02
Thank you. And thanks to everyone for listening, and we'll see you next Friday for another edition of Sports Roundtable. Peace out.