WATCH: Michigan State's Julia Ayrault Talks NCAA Tournament
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Julia Ayrault has seen some highs and lows during her time as a Spartan.
This year, though, might be her best shot at glory, as Michigan State heads into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7-seed, its highest since 2016.
Ayrault, who is second on the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game and first in rebounding (7.4), has one last opportunity to help lead the Spartans to glory.
That quest begins Saturday when she and her team take on No. 10-seed Harvard in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Ayrault addressed the media after the Spartans learned their first-round matchup. You can watch below:
Michigan State coach Robyn Fralick spoke to reporters before Ayrault. Below is a partial transcript from her presser:
Q: What's your reaction to the seed and how long/well have you known Harvard coach Carrie Moore?
Fralick: "Yeah so, Carrie Moore, I was a graduate assistant at Western Michigan when she was a player there, so -- and that was a long time ago. And at that time, she was the leading scorer -- I believe -- she was the leading scorer in the country, so a great player, great person, great coach. She's done a really good job with Harvard. I think it's their first NCAA Tournament [since] -- it was a long time. So, and she just got there, so she's done a really good job. The seeing, I think we were all really anticipatory today because we're a team that kind of didn't know exactly where we were going to land or end up at," Fralick said when she addressed the media after the reveal. "So many people asked me, 'Where are you going to be," and I'm like, 'There's 16 different spots we could be in.' So, I think right now, we're just looking forward, and we've got Harvard to prepare for, and it's been a while since we've known who we're going to play, so I think we're eager to get prepared and get back to work."
Q: What is this like to have this kind of break and not know the opponent and then suddenly know?
Fralick: "So, we framed it -- there's two things that we used to frame it: one, one of the phrases we've been using is 'win the wait.' I think it's important to win the wait. And the other thing that we really talked about is, 'Hey, let's be a team that gets a little better.' And we have time to get a little better. You're not going to completely change; there's not time to just overhaul, but let's get a little better, and let's have a mentality around that. And practice has been fun because really, in a lot of ways, we've gone back to preseason practices. Split teams, make them even, compete. And I know the girls have liked that; it's been a good change of pace."
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