Iowa beat Michigan State 74-61 in the Big 10 women’s tourney but still earned an at-large bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Spartans had losing records in conference play in 2022 & 2023 but are now heading to the NCAA tourney for the 2nd year in a row. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Michigan State SR G Julia Ayrault about being a good student and making the NCAA tourney.
You were born/raised in Michigan: what made you choose Michigan State? I appreciated the family environment of the university/team and it was something that I wanted to be a part of. I felt really at home/welcomed when I came to visit and appreciated the atmosphere.
You missed all of the 2021-22 season with a left foot injury: how bad was it, and how were you able to get back onto the court? There was a lot of recovery, but the biggest thing was working on the mental aspect of learning how to trust myself and my body again over time.
In the 2024 NCAA tourney you scored 14 PTS in a 3-PT loss to North Carolina: what did you learn from that loss that you think will help you this year? We had a slow start and got ourselves into a little bit of a hole, which was hard to fight back from. March is a time when everyone is good and every team is in the tourney for a reason so you have to start the game ready to go. I am excited for us to have a little redemption.
Your team is top-20 in the nation in PPG/APG/SPG/BPG: what are your team’s weaknesses because it seems like you are good at everything?! There have been games where we got down and let teams go on a run and we were forced to fight back a bit. We cannot dig ourselves a hole early on so we can spend more of the game building a lead.
You are a 3-time member of the all-conference academic team: how do you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? We have a lot of good resources: our academic coordinator Shelby is awesome and has helped me stay on top of stuff/know what I have to do/make time for school. I have a lot of online classes and need to focus so that I can do what I need to get done.
Your parents Kimberly/Andrew both played college basketball: who is the best athlete in the family? I have to go with my mom because she is underrated. She was a post player at the time and is 6’ on a good day so respect to her going down with the big guns and battling. Shout-out to her!
How do you feel about being a #7 seed, and what do you know about Harvard? I am really excited to be a #7 seed, which our coach said is our highest seed since 2016. We have had a good year and are looking forward to playing a good Harvard team, getting our 1st win in the tourney, and then going from there.
