Grace VanSlooten established herself as a big factor for the Michigan State women’s basketball team in her first season with the Spartans in 2024-25.
The senior forward now enters her second seasonas a captain and regarded as one of the nation’s top talents.
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VanSlooten has received numerous preseason accolades ahead of MSU’s season and home opener against Mercyhurst at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 6. She was one of 10 players to make the preseason All-Big Ten squads selected by the coaches and media in early October.
The preseason accolades have also come nationally for VanSlooten, who made watch lists for the Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year and the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year.
Those honors are no surprise to MSU coach Robyn Fralick, who has watched the way VanSlooten has put in the time to improve since she joined the Spartans as a transfer from Oregon in April 2024. Her development intensified this past offseason when she played with USA Basketball and helped the U.S. win a gold medal at the FIBA AmeriCup.
Michigan State’s Grace VanSlooten talks with reporters during women’s basketball media day on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
“Grace just works really hard,” Fralick said. “She’s someone who just keeps developing. She’s somebody who has a plan for what every day looks like. She loves basketball, she loves getting better at it. I think this summer her experience with USA Basketball was so helpful, playing against the best players and with the best players and what that looks like. There’s so much that goes into trying to win a gold medal. It’s every box out, rebound, make the extra pass and how do you play at the highest level?
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“Her coming back with a gold medal and playing with and against the best and then sustaining her work — it’s not like she came back and said, hey, I won a gold medal it’s time to chill out. She’s someone we can count on every day that’s going to put in the work to keep getting better.”
VanSlooten was a second team All-Big Ten selection during her debut season with the Spartans after averaging 15.5 points and 7.3 rebounds and shooting 52.1% from the field. Her season ended on a strong note as she averaged a double-double at 16.0 points and 10.5 rebounds during two NCAA tournament games.
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU women’s basketball’s Grace VanSlooten attracting preseason attention
