# 2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by fourth-year head coach Marlene Stollings, played their home games at Williams Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 24–9, 11–5 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They defeated Iowa in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten women's tournament before losing to Ohio State in the semifinals. They received at-large bid of the NCAA women's tournament as the No. 7 seed in the Spokane region. There they defeated Green Bay before losing to Oregon in the Second Round.
On April 9, 2018, head coach Marlene Stollings resigned from Minnesota to accept the head coaching job at Texas Tech. She finished with a four-year record of 82–47. On April 12, the school hired the second all-time leading scorer for the Gophers, Lindsay Whalen, as head coach. As part of her contract with the school, Whalen will continue to play for the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx while she is head coach.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 11, 2017* 5:00 pm | | Lehigh | W 107–73 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (2,642) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 13, 2017* 6:00 pm | | at Rhode Island | W 82–60 | 2–0 | Ryan Center (310) Kingston, RI |
| Nov 16, 2017* 7:00 pm | | VCU | W 108–63 | 3–0 | Williams Arena (2,147) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 19, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Boston College | W 78–68 | 4–0 | Williams Arena (2,454) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 22, 2017* 8:00 pm, BTN | | Xavier | W 74–62 | 5–0 | Williams Arena (2,000) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 25, 2017* 4:30 pm | | vs. Wake Forest Lady Rebel Round-Up semifinals | W 93–81 | 6–0 | Cox Pavilion (583) Paradise, NV |
| Nov 26, 2017* 4:30 pm | | at UNLV Lady Rebel Round-Up championship | W 79–72 | 7–0 | Cox Pavilion (575) Paradise, NV |
| Nov 29, 2017* 2:30 pm, ACCN Extra | | at North Carolina ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 83–88 | 7–1 | Carmichael Arena (2,315) Chapel Hill, NC |
| Dec 3, 2017* 1:00 pm | | Eastern Michigan | W 80–56 | 8–1 | Williams Arena (2,694) Minneapolis, MN |
| Dec 7, 2017* 6:00 pm | | at Georgetown | W 73–63 | 9–1 | McDonough Gymnasium (307) Washington, D.C. |
| Dec 10, 2017* 2:30 pm | | at San Diego | L 69–72 | 9–2 | Jenny Craig Pavilion (511) San Diego, CA |
| Dec 13, 2017* 12:00 pm | | Cal Poly | W 112–68 | 10–2 | Williams Arena (4,126) Minneapolis, MN |
| Dec 22, 2017* 1:00 pm | | UC Riverside | W 101–75 | 11–2 | Williams Arena (2,106) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten conference season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 7:00 pm | | at Northwestern | W 90–63 | 12–2 (1–0) | Beardsley Gym (703) Evanston, IL |
| Dec 31, 2017 2:00 pm | | Nebraska | L 74–79 | 12–3 (1–1) | Williams Arena (3,284) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 4, 2018 6:00 pm | | at No. 10 Ohio State | L 75–91 | 12–4 (1–2) | Value City Arena (4,519) Columbus, OH |
| Jan 7, 2018 3:00 pm, BTN | | Michigan State | W 83–77 | 13–4 (2–2) | Williams Arena (3,422) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 10, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Penn State | W 91–71 | 14–4 (3–2) | Bryce Jordan Center (2,326) University Park, PA |
| Jan 13, 2018 1:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 21 Rutgers | L 70–80 $^{OT}$ | 14–5 (3–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (2,168) Piscataway, NJ |
| Jan 18, 2018 7:00 pm | | Wisconsin | W 90–65 | 15–5 (4–3) | Williams Arena (3,588) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 21, 2018 3:00 pm | | No. 20 Iowa | W 77–72 | 16–5 (5–3) | Williams Arena (4,182) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 31, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Wisconsin | W 71–61 | 17–5 (6–3) | Kohl Center (3,583) Madison, WI |
| Feb 4, 2018 2:00 pm | | at Iowa | L 84–92 | 17–6 (6–4) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (6,581) Iowa City, IA |
| Feb 8, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Purdue | W 78–74 | 18–6 (7–4) | Mackey Arena (5,827) West Lafayette, IN |
| Feb 11, 2018 3:00 pm, BTN | | Penn State | W 101–68 | 19–6 (8–4) | Williams Arena (3,794) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 14, 2018 7:00 pm | | No. 23 Michigan | W 93–87 | 20–6 (9–4) | Williams Arena (2,415) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 18, 2018 12:00 pm, BTN | | No. 10 Maryland | W 93–74 | 21–6 (10–4) | Williams Arena (4,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 20, 2018 7:00 pm | | Indiana | L 70–82 | 21–7 (10–5) | Williams Arena (3,477) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 25, 2018 2:00 pm | | at Illinois | W 84–75 | 22–7 (11–5) | State Farm Center (1,638) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| Mar 2, 2018 2:30 pm, RSN | (4) | vs. (5) Iowa Quarterfinals | W 90–89 | 23–7 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (5,274) Indianapolis, IN |
| Mar 3, 2018 5:00 pm, BTN | (4) | vs. (1) No. 13 Ohio State Semifinals | L 88–90 | 23–8 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| Mar 16, 2018* 4:00 pm, ESPN2 | (10 S) | vs. (7 S) No. 21 Green Bay First Round | W 89–77 | 24–8 | Matthew Knight Arena Eugene, OR |
| Mar 18, 2018* 9:30 pm, ESPN2 | (10 S) | at (2 S) No. 6 Oregon Second Round | L 73–101 | 24–9 | Matthew Knight Arena (7,576) Eugene, OR |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=Spokane Region. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |