# 2021–22 Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team represented Iowa State University during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cyclones were coached by Bill Fennelly, who was in his 27th season at Iowa State. They played their home games at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa as members of the Big 12 Conference.

## Previous season

The Cyclones finished the 2020–21 season 17–11, 12–6 in Big 12 play to finish in fourth place. The Cyclones fell in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament to fifth seed Texas. They qualified for the 2021 NCAA tournament as a seven seed, defeating 10 seed Michigan State in the first round before falling to two seed Texas A&M in the second round.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 4, 2021* 6:30 pm | No. 12 | Wisconsin-River Falls | W 99–41 | | Hilton Coliseum (9,180) Ames, IA |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 9, 2021* 11:00 am, ESPN+ | No. 12 | Omaha | W 65–38 | 1–0 | Hilton Coliseum (9,169) Ames, IA |
| November 15, 2021* 6:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 12 | South Dakota State | W 75–56 | 2–0 | Hilton Coliseum (9,335) Ames, IA |
| November 18, 2021* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 14 | at Drake Rivalry | W 98–76 | 3–0 | Knapp Center (2,982) Des Moines, IA |
| November 21, 2021* 12:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 14 | Southern | W 96–55 | 4–0 | Hilton Coliseum (9,317) Ames, IA |
| November 26, 2021* 4:00 pm, FloHoops | No. 13 | vs. Charlotte Gulf Coast Showcase Quarterfinals | W 75–59 | 5–0 | Hertz Arena (276) Estero, FL |
| November 27, 2021* 6:30 pm, FloHoops | No. 13 | vs. Penn State Gulf Coast Showcase Semifinals | W 93–59 | 6–0 | Hertz Arena (200) Estero, FL |
| November 28, 2021* 6:30 pm, FloHoops | No. 13 | vs. UMass Gulf Coast Showcase Championship | W 76–71 | 7–0 | Hertz Arena (200) Estero, FL |
| December 2, 2021* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 14 | at LSU Big 12/SEC Women's Challenge | L 60–69 | 7–1 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (5,810) Baton Rogue, LA |
| December 5, 2021* 12:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 14 | Longwood | W 94–56 | 8–1 | Hilton Coliseum (9,542) Ames, IA |
| December 8, 2021* 6:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 15 | No. 12 Iowa Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series | W 77–70 | 9–1 | Hilton Coliseum (11,348) Ames, IA |
| December 12, 2021* 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 15 | Northern Iowa Rivalry | W 70–69 | 10–1 | Hilton Coliseum (9,728) Ames, IA |
| December 19, 2021* 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 12 | Prairie View A&M | W 108–39 | 11–1 | Hilton Coliseum (8,580) Ames, IA |
| January 2, 2022 3:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 14 | West Virginia | W 88–72 | 12–1 (1–0) | Hilton Coliseum (9,092) Ames, IA |
| January 5, 2022 6:00 pm, Bally Sports | No. 12 | at No. 23 Oklahoma | W 81–71 | 13–1 (2–0) | Lloyd Noble Center (1,582) Norman, OK |
| January 8, 2022 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 12 | TCU | W 78–47 | 14–1 (3–0) | Hilton Coliseum (9,017) Ames, IA |
| January 11, 2022 6:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 9 | at No. 25 Kansas State | W 73–70 | 15–1 (4–0) | Bramlage Coliseum (2,948) Manhattan, KS |
| January 15, 2022 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 9 | at Oklahoma State | W 74–60 | 16–1 (5–0) | Gallagher-Iba Arena (1,937) Stillwater, OK |
| January 19, 2022 6:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 7 | No. 15т Texas | L 48–66 | 16–2 (5–1) | Hilton Coliseum (9,774) Ames, IA |
| January 23, 2022 2:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 7 | at No. 15т Baylor | L 61–87 | 16–3 (5–2) | Ferrell Center (4,541) Waco, TX |
| January 26, 2022 6:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 13 | Kansas | W 77–62 | 17–3 (6–2) | Hilton Coliseum (9,418) Ames, IA |
| January 29, 2022 12:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 13 | at Texas Tech | W 86–65 | 18–3 (7–2) | United Supermarkets Arena (4,057) Lubbock, TX |
| February 2, 2022 6:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 11 | No. 25 Kansas State | W 70–55 | 19–3 (8–2) | Hilton Coliseum (9,511) Ames, IA |
| February 5, 2022 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 11 | Oklahoma State | W 76–58 | 20–3 (9–2) | Hilton Coliseum (10,443) Ames, IA |
| February 12, 2022 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 9 | at TCU | W 93–70 | 21–3 (10–2) | Schollmaier Arena (1,811) Fort Worth, TX |
| February 16, 2022 7:00 pm, LHN | No. 6 | at No. 14 Texas | L 48–73 | 21–4 (10–3) | Frank Erwin Center (2,585) Austin, TX |
| February 19, 2022 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 6 | No. 15 Oklahoma | W 89–67 | 22–4 (11–3) | Hilton Coliseum (11,321) Ames, IA |
| February 23, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 9 | at Kansas | W 85–59 | 23–4 (12–3) | Allen Fieldhouse (2,901) Lawrence, KS |
| February 26, 2022 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 9 | Texas Tech | W 71–55 | 24–4 (13–3) | Hilton Coliseum (10,871) Ames, IA |
| February 28, 2022 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 8 | No. 5 Baylor | L 55–71 | 24–5 (13–4) | Hilton Coliseum (13,907) Ames, IA |
| March 5, 2022 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 8 | at West Virginia Quarterfinals | W 74–57 | 25–5 (14–4) | WVU Coliseum (1,823) Morgantown, WV |
| Big 12 Tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2022 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) No. 10 | vs. (7) West Virginia Quarterfinals | W 66–60 | 26–5 | Municipal Auditorium (5,163) Kansas City, MO |
| March 12, 2022 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) No. 10 | vs. (3) No. 7 Texas Semifinals | L 73–82 $^{OT}$ | 26–6 | Municipal Auditorium (5,013) Kansas City, MO |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 18, 2022 9:00 pm, ESPNU | (3 G) No. 10 | (14 G) UT Arlington First round | W 78–71 | 27–6 | Hilton Coliseum (5,546) Ames, IA |
| March 20, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (3 G) No. 10 | (6 G) Georgia Second round | W 67–44 | 28–6 | Hilton Coliseum (6,283) Ames, IA |
| March 25, 2022 8:30 pm, ESPN2 | (3 G) No. 10 | vs. (10 G) Creighton Sweet 16 | L 68–76 | 28–7 | Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G=Greensboro. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking Movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked previous week. NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Final |
| AP | 12 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 8 | |
| Coaches | 16 | - | 14 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
Coaches' Poll did not release a second poll at the same time as the AP.