# 2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team

The 2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini were led by first-year head coach Shauna Green, and they played their home games at State Farm Center. This season marked the program's 41st season as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

## Previous season

The Illini finished the 2021–22 season 7–20 overall, with a 1–13 record in Big Ten play to finish in last place. As the fourteenth seed in the Big Ten women's tournament, they defeated eleventh seed Wisconsin in the first round before losing to sixth seed Nebraska in the second round. They were not invited to participate in any post-season tournaments.

## Offseason

After five seasons as Illinois head coach, Nancy Fahey announced her retirement on March 4, 2022.
On March 21, 2022, Green was named as the program's tenth head coach, having had six successful seasons as the head coach at Dayton. All three of Green's assistant coaching hires at Illinois (Calamity McEntire, DeAntoine Beasley and Ryan Gensler) had previously worked for her at Dayton. The roster included five players from Fahey's final Illinois team, four freshmen, and four transfers, including two from Dayton (Makira Cook and Brynn Shoup-Hill). Genesis Bryant transferred from North Carolina State, but she had been recruited by Green for Dayton before committing to the Wolfpack.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 4, 2022* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Quincy | W 78–43 | – | State Farm Center (1,813) Champaign, IL |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 9, 2022* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | LIU | W 75–40 | 1–0 | State Farm Center (1,583) Champaign, IL |
| November 13, 2022* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Alcorn State | W 90–59 | 2–0 | State Farm Center (1,776) Champaign, IL |
| November 16, 2022* 11:00 a.m., BTN+ | | McNeese State | W 100–38 | 3–0 | State Farm Center (8,141) Champaign, IL |
| November 19, 2022* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Evansville | W 93–54 | 4–0 | State Farm Center (1,409) Champaign, IL |
| November 21, 2022* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Oakland | W 84–55 | 5–0 | State Farm Center (1,334) Champaign, IL |
| November 25, 2022* 4:45 p.m., FloHoops | | vs. Charlotte Daytona Beach Invitational | W 70–43 | 6–0 | Ocean Center (250) Daytona, FL |
| November 26, 2022* 2:30 p.m., FloHoops | | vs. Delaware Daytona Beach Invitational | L 80–83 | 6–1 | Ocean Center (325) Daytona, FL |
| November 30, 2022* 4:00 p.m., ACCN | | at Pittsburgh ACC–Big Ten Challenge | W 92–71 | 7–1 | Petersen Events Center (274) Pittsburgh, PA |
| December 4, 2022 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 5 Indiana | L 61–65 | 7–2 (0–1) | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (5,381) Bloomington, IN |
| December 7, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Rutgers | W 80–62 | 8–2 (1–1) | State Farm Center (1,771) Champaign, IL |
| December 11, 2022* 1:00 p.m., FloHoops | | at Butler | W 65–63 | 9–2 (1–1) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (851) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 18, 2022* 4:00 p.m., SECN | | at Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 76–66 | 10–2 (1–1) | Mizzou Arena (2,963) Columbia, MO |
| December 21, 2022* 12:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Florida Atlantic | W 81–46 | 11–2 (1–1) | State Farm Center (1,932) Champaign, IL |
| December 29, 2022 6:30 p.m., BTN+ | | at Wisconsin | W 79–63 | 12–2 (2–1) | Kohl Center (3,274) Madison, WI |
| January 1, 2023 2:00 p.m., BTN | | No. 12 Iowa | W 90–86 | 13–2 (3–1) | State Farm Center (4,803) Champaign, IL |
| January 5, 2023 8:00 p.m., BTN | | Northwestern | W 85–79 | 14–2 (4–1) | State Farm Center (1,904) Champaign, IL |
| January 8, 2023 12:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 3 Ohio State | L 81-87 | 14–3 (4–2) | Value City Arena (6,273) Columbus, OH |
| January 15, 2023 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 24 | at Minnesota | W 70–57 | 15–3 (5–2) | Williams Arena (4,454) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 18, 2023 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 21 | No. 6 Indiana | L 72–83 | 15–4 (5–3) | State Farm Center (5,583) Champaign, IL |
| January 22, 2023 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 21 | at Northwestern | W 67–64 | 16–4 (6–3) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (2,276) Evanston, IL |
| January 26, 2023 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 22 | Purdue | L 52–62 | 16–5 (6–4) | State Farm Center (2,584) Champaign, IL |
| January 29, 2023 5:00 p.m., BTN | No. 22 | Michigan State | W 86–76 | 17–5 (7–4) | State Farm Center (5,096) Champaign, IL |
| February 2, 2023 5:30 p.m., BTN | | at No. 18 Michigan | L 57–74 | 17–6 (7–5) | Crisler Center (2,676) Ann Arbor, MI |
| February 5, 2023 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Minnesota | W 69–62 | 18–6 (8–5) | State Farm Center (4,533) Champaign, IL |
| February 9, 2023 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Nebraska | W 72–64 | 19–6 (9–5) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (4,369) Lincoln, NE |
| February 12, 2023 12:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 8 Maryland | L 71–82 | 19–7 (9–6) | Xfinity Center (7,301) College Park, MD |
| February 19, 2023 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Penn State | W 85–62 | 20–7 (10–6) | State Farm Center (6,299) Champaign, IL |
| February 22, 2023 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 25т | Nebraska | L 57–90 | 20–8 (10–7) | State Farm Center (3,547) Champaign, IL |
| February 26, 2023 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 25т | at Rutgers | W 75–53 | 21–8 (11–7) | Jersey Mike's Arena (2,049) Piscataway, NJ |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 2, 2023 8 p.m., BTN | (6) | vs. (11) Rutgers Second round | W 81–55 | 22–8 | Target Center (5,124) Minneapolis, MN |
| March 3, 2023 8 p.m., BTN | (6) | vs. (3) No. 5 Maryland Quarterfinals | L 58–73 | 22–9 | Target Center (8,577) Minneapolis, MN |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| March 15, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ESPNU | (11 G1) | vs. (11 G1) Mississippi State First Four | L 56–70 | 22–10 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (466) South Bend, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G1=Greenville 1. All times are in Central Time. Source: ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | 24 | 21 | 22 | RV | RV | RV | 25т | RV | — | — | |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | 24 | 23 | 22 | 24 | RV | RV | RV | — | — | — | |