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Host Nick Lundberg recaps all MSU sport events.
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're live here from The State News and I'm with Melanie Soverinsky the men's basketball Reporter. How are we doing today? Mel?
Melanie Soverinsky 0:22
Doing good. Excited to be here.
Nick Lundberg 0:23
Yeah. So I first want to get into a sport you covered last year. I know women's soccer that I've taken on this year for The State News. So over the weekend, we went to Columbus for the Big 10 tournament. They performed pretty well, but they ended up losing an amazing game in the Big 10 championships at Penn State. It was their first loss of Big 10 play all season long. Lauren DeBeau had a great game, but Ally Schlegel for Penn State, put it away for them. And then DeBeau and Justina Gaynor name were named to the all-tournament team. So it was just a great weekend for the team in general. Over the weekend, they broke the program record with 16 wins. And then they just were announced earlier this week that they drew the four seed in the national tournament. So they'll play Milwaukee tonight at six in the first round of the NCAA national tournament. And, Mel, I know you've covered them last year. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on. If you've been following along this year, and kind of just the journey. It's been from Jeff Hosler's, first year last year with getting 10 wins to now just absolutely breaking through on the national stage.
Melanie Soverinsky 1:29
Yeah, I've definitely been following along, I think Michigan State's soccer program, both for the women's team and the men's team is really up and coming and breaking ground. And, you know, just laying a new foundation, I think Hosler done a really, really great job with the program. And I'm excited to see where it goes.
Nick Lundberg 1:48
Yeah, so this year, they're pretty much you know, they have high expectations for the tournament coming in after, you know, just an amazing regular season. So they host the first game at home for the NCAA tournament. And then I believe it's either they host the second round and third round, or just the second round at home too. So we'll have a good, pretty decent home field advantage throughout the tournament. So we'll see just how far they can go.
Nick Lundberg 1:48
But moving on to a team you covered this year. And I'd like to get your thoughts. I know you weren't there. And I was there in your place for the first round of the Big 10 tournament last week, but they lost to Ohio State in the first round. In the last seconds, it was a very they played very well all game long. It was back and forth.
Nick Lundberg 2:32
No one could really get on the board until it was literally in the last like 30 seconds that they finally got one by the second team player to infinity, who has been great all season for the Spartans. But ultimately that was you know, the game-winning goal. And Ohio State came away with the win, and MSU finishes season six, I believe the record is six, nine and two. And so they're kind of waiting for next week and a half to see where the NCAA tournament for them how it comes together. But it doesn't look too good. And Mel, I just wanted to get your thoughts on just if this is it for the team. What do you see from them this season? What can they, you know, what are we looking forward to in the future? Like, you know, where's the state of the program at right now?
Melanie Soverinsky 3:17
Yeah, definitely a different outcome. Then, you know, woman's soccer freshmen have been huge standouts on the team this year, specifically Jonathan Stout. I believe he was named to the second all-Big Ten team.
Nick Lundberg 3:29
I think he was on the freshman team for sure.
Melanie Soverinsky 3:32
Freshman team, definitely. And (inaudible) was also on that team. I think that, you know, they made big strides this season. Coach Rensing has, you know, a better this year than it was last year in terms of standings. But yeah, Owen Finnerty, it was a great addition to the team. He, like you said, really is, you know, a tough one to come by. And it's good, you know, between the sticks, but I think that it's just going to take some more time to continue to build that program back up.
Nick Lundberg 4:01
Yeah, they started out. I've talked about this before an earlier podcast, but they had a very slow start. And then they kind of picked it up in the middle of conference play. They'd be Michigan, which is always you know, a big thing. Women's soccer dipped as well, but they've had a great season.
Nick Lundberg 4:17
But men's soccer, beating Michigan is always a good thing. And then they've had some quality wins, but I just don't really see any way this team kind of breaks into the tournament, breaks into the national tournament barring some sort of like miracle or if something like the committee sees but overall, I think after the start they had to this year, I think that being in this position now is was a good, a good look, and just kind of battling back into decent, you know, position to be where they are right now. And so, and there's definitely what you talked about the freshmen that are going to keep building on their years they had this year for the next three years. to come, hopefully, so we'll see if Rensing can kind of add to that kind of pool of freshman talent they already have.
Nick Lundberg 5:07
So it'll be interesting to see going forward, what the team does, but it was I think they you know, after a slow start, they picked it up pretty, pretty nicely.
Melanie Soverinsky 5:16
Yeah, I agree. I think that, you know, also just the success from the women's team is gonna be great momentum for them, you know, moving forward in the next few years, with those freshmen, you know, seeing those results, and, you know, wanting to get on the board there and continue with the entirety of Michigan State soccer program. So, yeah, I think it's going in a good direction.
Nick Lundberg 5:36
And I forgot to mention the women's team today. Today, we're gonna get into signing days for multiple teams, but they added 10 players to their roster. And Jeff Hosler obviously talked highly about all of those additions. So at least on the women's side of things, it's always good to see a team that kind of blew up kind of capitalizing on the momentum in recruiting, as we've seen with other Michigan State programs that we'll get into down the road in this podcast.
Nick Lundberg 6:02
But moving on to volleyball, they are in the midst of an 11-game losing streak right now, which is not a great look. But Big Ten is stacked as they just lost to number 14 Purdue and number six Ohio State. They're now 10 and 15, in the regular season, and only one in 13 and conference play. But they have kind of after a very, very tough stretch. They have kind of an easier go of it for their last six games of the season. They'll start off by facing Illinois at home tonight at seven and the rest of the teams they play are unranked.
Nick Lundberg 6:34
So I feel like this is a very, very good time for first-year coach Leah Johnson and a young squad to kind of end the season on a high note. They, you know, don't win all of these games. At least getting a few of these wins in conference play would be huge for momentum going into the next season. So we'll see kind of how that works out.
Nick Lundberg 6:54
But yeah, it's just it was, it's always tough for I've talked about this before, for a first-year head coach with a whole new team and a whole new staff coming in into a very strong conference of the Big Ten. And just, I mean, they played, it was around like eight straight ranked games, and most of them are on the road. So it's hard to, you know, come on with come into those games with such a young team and a new coaching staff and come out of those games with wins. So, but we have seen the effort from this team. So it's going to be interesting, and they've got a lot of promise going ahead, but they just I feel like a lot of these games coming in on the rest of the season.
Nick Lundberg 7:35
You got to come away with some of these wins and some of these later games but another team that you know has been making waves a little bit on campus you caught up with them, a week ago, I believe the women's cross country team won the Big 10 championship. Their coach, Breznau was tabbed the Big 10 women's cross-country coach of the year. And Malloy and Nolan earned sportsmanship awards. And I know you caught up a little bit with that brief. Did you see anything that was that stood out to you that you can remember from that performance? Because this is kind of a team that has, you know, cross country and colleges kind of goes under the radar a little bit. So I was just curious as if to you saw anything that kind of stood out when you were writing about it and catching up with, you know, all of the accolades and awards this team has picked up so far.
Melanie Soverinsky 8:26
Yeah it was super exciting. For this program. Big 10. Champs, there was a few you know, like you said, head coach, Breznau now being learning that award. Katie Osika. She played second overall. Makeena Veen she placed ninth, and then ended up. Yeah, she placed ninth and then Kaitlyn Hines, she plays 15th Overall, so three Spartans there. And then all the Spartans placed, you know, within 75 Out of the total 149 participants, so that was pretty impressive. Um, yeah, I think this is going to take the program to new heights. And, you know, it's always great to have that, you know, Big 10 win, and haven't seen this. You know, it's been a few few years where they've had it, but you know, it's tough to maintain that in a program. So I think, to continue to keep that up, it's going to be something that they're going to need to work on. And it'll be interesting to see where that goes.
Nick Lundberg 9:24
Yeah, it's always nice to at least I wanted to give them a little shine because winning a Big 10 championship in anything is always very tough. And they definitely won, you know, their fair share amount of awards. And they performed highly all season long, so I just wanted to shout them out.
Nick Lundberg 9:40
But moving on to kind of our strengths now is basketball. I'm Melanie's the men's basketball per while I'm the women's basketball reporter and I wanted to catch up about I'll start off with the women's game they I was there and they blew out Delaware State. Gabby Elliot, Mo Joiner led the way in point It's with 14 and 13 I believe, respectfully and then Taiyier Parks had a decent hasn't always and Stephanie Visscher also had double digits. The one thing though that was surprising to me was DeeDee Hagemann had no points in that one. But the team kind of started slow shooting wise, but they picked it up Matilda Ekh finished with I believe it was two threes two or three threes after going like Oh, for three in the first half. So, I mean, Delaware State, like the team that Northern Arizona the men's team played is not the best competition wise but it was a good tune-up regardless to kind of get into the rhythm for going later into the season. Suzy mentioned, Suzy Merchant, the Head Coach mentioned that they kind of have to pick it up where they had a slow start in this one. And so when they start to play better teams that that's going to kind of bite them especially in Big 10 play but I'm confident that the team will, you know, continue to get better throughout the rest of you know their nonconference play going into Big 10 play.
Nick Lundberg 11:06
But moving on to the men's area of things when they be Northern Arizona to start their season off as well. Undefeated. Jaden Akins made his return from a nagging injury and was pretty solid he had six points. Pierre Brooks was a very, you know, high points off the bench. He had a career-high with 14. Mady Sissoko looks pretty well, and didn't foul for a lot of the game, which is, you know, concern coming into this year, Joey Hauser had a very good game; he had a double-double with 18 and 10. AJ Hoggard, finished with nine points in eight assists. Tyson Walker was off, he started the game over five and eventually finished with six points, but the shooting just wasn't there for him, which, honestly, in a game like that when he is off, and they still went by like 20 is a good sign to me. But they're gonna play number two Gonzaga and a very, very tough game on the in the Armed Forces Classic tonight at 6:30 p.m. on the aircraft carrier, but I just wanted to get into your thoughts, Mel about just what you saw overall from the team, what stood out to you? What were some things that you know, you can take away from it?
Melanie Soverinsky 12:15
Yeah. Like you said, you know, pretty impressive when, you know, with Walker not performing his best, still taking home that 73-55 victory, you know, it's pretty impressive. I think that, you know, both exhibition against Grand Valley State and now the season opener against Northern Arizona are going to be tested, you know, heading into it's kind of daunting schedule that's coming up. Yeah, you know, we've got Gonzaga. And then there's Kentucky and then Villanova. So, it's gonna be a tough run. And I think, you know, with the shortened rotation and you know, lack of depth, depth, specifically at the center, just figuring out a way, you know, where everyone fits, working together, building that chemistry, and it looks like they are beginning to have that fall into place. Yeah, you know, Tyson had a tough game. And, you know, Izzo describes him as, you know, one of the best players so he's got to get back into that. You know, tuning up some things there.
Melanie Soverinsky 13:18
Yeah, Hauser played a very impressive game. The double-double Akins coming back was, you know, all this, there's so much energy, you know, talk to Jaxon Kohler after the game. And, you know, he just said it was such an energy shift to have him back. And he really makes a huge difference on the court, both on and off the court. But he's a big contributor to the team's success. And you know, Izzo's 20th season. So just jumping in there and seeing what they can do and getting to work.
Nick Lundberg 13:49
Yeah, I really liked what I saw from Akins kind of adding a new element to his game from last season, when he had some of those, you know, when the offense kind of stalled, he, they kind of gave him the ball and let them, you know, go into a little ISOs. And he had a couple of pull up jumpers that he created on his own, which is something I wanted to see more out of him, which was a good sign, especially coming off an injury. And then obviously, like Joey had the best game statistically wise compared to anyone. And I liked the fact that it didn't even seem like he got 10 rebounds, because on offense, at least he was playing, you know, he was hitting threes. He was kind of playing on the perimeter, which I feel is more of his spot for his game. But with the lack of size download, he's definitely going to have to kind of, you know, like he did last year fill in that role. And so it's just going to be interesting, especially against Gonzaga when they face probably the best big man in the country Andrew Timmy. And it's going to be interesting to see Mady Sissoko is kind of his first real test and all of his time here and at Michigan State tonight, so I'm just I'm excited for the game. And regardless, it'll be interesting to see See what happens, no matter, you know what the score is? So it's exciting.
Melanie Soverinsky 15:05
Yeah, definitely. I think that, you know, another thing was making that switch from exhibition first-half team to season opener first-half team. You know, that was something that I mean, could really, really hurt this team. So they obviously worked on that, you know, tuned it up and came back a new team on Monday night. So, yeah, like you said, We'll see, you know, with Timmy, and San Diego, and, yeah, Mady putting him to the test there. I think that's going to be really telling and it will kind of show us what's going to be going on the rest of the conference season.
Nick Lundberg 15:40
And so moving on to a team that's kind of starting to garner some national attention in the rankings is MSU, hockey. And I know you've covered a couple of those games this year. So we can kind of get into what you saw from that compared to where they are now. But they swept Wisconsin over the weekend, five zip and then five to one. Mittendorf had four goals in the first game, which is a pretty insane stat, when you think about it, but then another insane stat was St. Cyr had 88 saves over these over the weekend over these past two games. And that earned him the Big 10 first star. And national attention wise, they received they had like 19 Honorable mentioned votes, which was they have the top 20 rankings, and then they were around 25th, I believe in that ranking.
Nick Lundberg 16:27
But compared to what you saw, obviously, it's still a very young season one Big 10 just starting to play, but comparing to what you saw, when you were covering some of those games earlier, compared to where they are now sitting at I believe it's like six, three, and one. And then all of this, you know, this hype around Nightingale on this team is starting to you know, kind of catch up nationalize. We knew that Nightingale was going to have his guys ready. But just to you know, start off that this weekend with this kind of dominance heading into, you know, a very loaded big 10 schedule. What have you seen? That's kind of, you know, is this excitement, you know, worthy? Or is it seem worthy of, you know, where people are starting to look at them as?
Melanie Soverinsky 17:12
100%. I mean, first sweep, you know, Big 10 sweep, it's, I think it's difficult for a team to sweep regardless and to be able to sweep Wisconsin this weekend is great momentum, you know, heading into Ohio State and to the rest of the season. I think it's good luck. I think I think that Nightingale is really taking the program to new heights. And, you know, I spoke and wrote an article on their 2007 championship team about a month ago now. And, you know, I talked to, you know, the guys from that title team about, you know, where they see the program going in the next, you know, let's say, you know, four to five years, and everyone's response was positive. And everyone said, you know, Nightingale, he knows what he's doing. And it's just going to take time, and I, you know, think that they're right, in a lot of ways. And, you know, like you said, you know, few, a few games ago, I believe it was Liu, you know, Jagger had a hat trick. That was the first hat trick that anyone's had in years, you know, and then, you know, for under to have those four, four goals this game. I mean, it's pretty impressive and doesn't just happen overnight.
Melanie Soverinsky 18:20
So yeah, I think, to continue to keep that momentum up, you know, going into this weekend, it's going to be a bit more difficult. And just going to continue to get more difficult as they head to the road. I'm heading to Penn State and Miami, Ohio the next two weekends, so yeah, just we'll see what happens, but to keep whatever they're doing, keep it up.
Nick Lundberg 18:42
Yeah. You mentioned that Penn State game was going to be tough, simply beat Michigan, on the or at home, and then they, they tied with them. So they're kind of prove and Michigan is obviously one of the top a top three team in the country. So for them to kind of do that the way they did. So that's going to be a very tough, you know, game coming up.
Nick Lundberg 19:04
The Big 10 hockey's no joke in general. But it I am very excited and interested to see how this team performs. Going forward, because obviously, these aren't really Nightingale's players. He's got some freshmen in there that have been doing well. So I'm interested to see it, but it seems like these guys have been playing hard for him. And it's, it kind of reminds me of how like what Mel Tucker was doing last year, taking guys who, you know, he didn't recruit and, you know, having them play to the best of their ability, which is always a good sight to see. So it's just going to be interesting going forward for this team.
Nick Lundberg 19:40
But moving on to Mel Tucker and football. They had a very big win this weekend. I don't know if you were tuning in for it, but that's good. So we beat 16-ranked Illinois on the road 23 to 15. Big, big win for bowl purposes, and I'll get into that in a second. But It's Tucker's fourth-ranked road win in four years, which is the most by an FBS coach and in that span, they were down eight players on defense because of the suspensions from the Michigan game. Jacoby Windmon who was obviously one of the best players on that team, regardless of defense or offensive wise, and then Andrew Angelo Grosse another starter wasn't playing. And there was a lot of injuries.
Nick Lundberg 19:40
Basically, the whole defensive line was decimated. They had like third stringers coming in and stepping out but they still they, you know, got in there they had three sacks three forced fumbles, which against Chase Brown, who's a very good, Nig Ten running back, is no joke. The run game established itself probably this was probably the best run-game performance of the season since the nonconference play against Akron and Western but Bert Jalen Berger had 81 yards and 15 carries check for started at a touchdown. Thorne looks pretty good after you know that first play interception had a very, very, you know, nice pass to Jayden Reed in the corner of the endzone. They always hit on that after he took a big hit. So it was a pretty gutsy when it was one of if not Tucker's most important wins of his tenure so far, in his time at Michigan State, especially for bowl purposes this year. But you said you mentioned you watch the game. So I just wonder, what do you see that you liked from the team? And what are you looking forward to in this in this next game against Rutgers?
Melanie Soverinsky 21:35
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, most importantly, overcoming that adversity. And, you know, obviously, the past few weeks have been challenging for this team for this program. For all of you know, everyone here at Michigan State, with everything that's been going on, and I think, to go into this game, and you know, like you said, we had Grosse out most of our defensive line. And that's difficult, and they really, you know, came together as a team. And I think that it shows like you said, you know, this was one of Tucker's most, you know, noteworthy games. And I think that it says a lot about a coach and it says a lot about a program. And that's really what I took away from the game.
Melanie Soverinsky 22:23
I think it's going to be tough this weekend with Rutgers you know, we have that home advantage, which is going to, you know, make it a little easier. But then again, we've had that and yeah, hasn't done much. So I think it's all just going to depend. Yeah, you know, the ball games. You were going to talk about that a little bit. What are your thoughts on that?
Nick Lundberg 22:44
So what I'm thinking is, we've got Rutgers who, if you look at it on paper, as a team, we should beat at home. And then you've got Indiana, which is another team at home that on paper, it seems like we should beat but we thought that with Minnesota earlier this year at home, we've thought that I mean, not so much with Maryland on the road, but there's been some games where it's like, okay, we should win, but they kind of, you know, doesn't go like that. But you need six wins to make a bowl game. And it seems like Penn State, which is the last game of the season, and it's on the road is going to be playing for something bigger when that time comes because they've had a very good season so far. So they've been they have a pretty good team put together. So I do not see us coming out with a win in that game.
Nick Lundberg 23:31
So the reason why I think it's so big is for the bowl purposes is because you've got two very winnable games coming up at home. And obviously making a Bowl win in any season. Regardless if this was a letdown year, that which a lot of people have thought it is. And that's reasonable. But a bowl appearance, a Bowl appearance, and getting a Bowl win is still big, regardless of what state the program's in, and especially to come out after everything that's been going on with the media. With the Michigan tunnel incident, everything, all the noise, the outside noise that's been going on to come into a ranked environment for a team against the team that is probably going to win the Big 10 West, which honestly isn't saying much.
Nick Lundberg 24:21
But to come in on the road after just a week after that happened to a team that's most likely going to win, it's going to win their division, who's ranked in the top 20. And to come out with a pretty a pretty solid win. It wasn't pretty all the time, but it was a win. It's still a win. And they look they were the better team that game for sure. We're just watching it wise, but it's a very it was very gutsy win and I'm not I don't think it's Tucker's most important win of his tenure. Obviously, I feel like the Michigan game last year holds a lot of weight on Um, but this was definitely up there in regards to, you know, like you said, coming out off of all the adversity they're facing with outside noise and everything and then just kind of sticking to what to what they do Hazleton and a very, very good game scheme schematically wise with all the injuries and everything.
Nick Lundberg 25:17
So that was very promising to see after kind of a rough start this year, but just the fact that they faced everything they did in the past coming week, and then come out with an a very impressive win. is, you know, has my hopes up that this team can, you know, make a bowl game and then hopefully, we'll take it from there. So we'll see what's next to come for the squad.
Melanie Soverinsky 25:38
Yeah, definitely. Um, you know, after last week's exhibition game against Grand Valley State, you know, someone that asked Izzo, you know, his view on the situation, how it's been handled, and he gave Tucker a lot of credit. And, you know, it's a tough situation and something difficult to, like you said, with the media. And, you know, to, you know, had some champagne and secure that win is is big, and it's gonna be telling what happens this weekend.
Nick Lundberg 26:07
Yep. And that, yeah, that's one thing that I want to talk about, as well as Tucker, handling all of that kind of adversity with. He was swift with it. I've been reading up on everything. I know that there's been some new things coming in about Michigan players starting fights, so that it's still going to be a long ways away from, you know, the final decision of what the outcome of everything, but I agree with Izzo that he did do the right thing in regards to how he handled it. And he yeah, swiftly got, you know, I mean, it seems like it was the right choice in every single decision he made with everybody being suspended. So it's good to yeah, it's good to see some accountability being taken correctly by this team.
Nick Lundberg 26:56
But I believe that's about all we have on timewise today, so I just want to say thank you, Mel for coming in. And it was good. It was a good time to have you on the podcast.
Melanie Soverinsky 27:05
Thanks for having me. Yeah, I had a great time.
Nick Lundberg 27:07
Yeah. Hopefully we get you back soon. And thanks for everyone for listening. We'll see you next Friday for another edition of Sports Roundtable. Peace out
Transcribed by https://otter.ai