# 2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by third-year head coach Lindsay Whalen, played their home games at Williams Arena and were members of the Big Ten Conference.
The Golden Gophers finished the season 8–13 and 7–11 in Big Ten play, to finish in tenth place. As the ninth seed in the Big Ten tournament, they were defeated by Nebraska in the second round. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Previous season

The Golden Gophers finished the season 16–15 and 5–12 in Big Ten play, to finish in eleventh place. As the eleven seed in the Big Ten tournament, they defeated Penn State in the first round, before falling to Ohio State in the second round. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| December 2, 2020* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Eastern Illinois | W 72–68 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 6, 2020* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Drake | L 66–99 | 1–1 | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten Conference season ||||||
| December 9, 2020 8:00 p.m., BTN | | Michigan State | L 66–81 | 1–2 (0–1) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 14, 2020 8:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 16 Northwestern | L 51–80 | 1–3 (0–2) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| December 23, 2020 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 19 Indiana | L 54–75 | 1–4 (0–3) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 3, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Wisconsin | W 88–83 $^{OT}$ | 2–4 (1–3) | Kohl Center (0) Madison, WI |
| January 6, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Iowa | L 79–92 | 2–5 (1–4) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (296) Iowa City, IA |
| January 10, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Penn State | L 60–69 | 2–6 (1–5) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 14, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN | | No. 9 Maryland | L 73–90 | 2–7 (1–6) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 19, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN | | at Nebraska | W 76–71 | 3–7 (2–6) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (0) Lincoln, NE |
| January 25, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN | | at Penn State | W 85–76 | 4–7 (3–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (180) University Park, PA |
| January 28, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Purdue | W 77–72 | 5–7 (4–6) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 31, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Iowa | L 68–94 | 5–8 (4–7) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 4, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 13 Michigan | Canceled | Canceled | Crisler Center Ann Arbor, MI |
| February 7, 2021 Noon, BTN+ | | at No. 11 Ohio State | L 59–83 | 5–9 (4–8) | Value City Arena (58) Columbus, OH |
| February 10, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Illinois | W 83–73 | 6–9 (5–8) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 14, 2021 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Wisconsin | W 68–63 | 7–9 (6–8) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 17, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Rutgers | L 56–83 | 7–10 (6–9) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| February 20, 2021 11:00 a.m., BTN+ | | at No. 9 Maryland | L 62–94 | 7–11 (6–10) | Xfinity Center (0) College Park, MD |
| February 24, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Nebraska | W 73–63 | 8–11 (7–10) | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 28, 2021 1:30 p.m. | | No. 12 Michigan | Canceled | Canceled | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| March 5, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Illinois | L 64–72 | 8–12 (7–11) | State Farm Center (0) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten women's tournament ||||||
| March 10, 2021 10:00 a.m., BTN | (9) | vs. (8) Nebraska Second round | L 61–72 | 8–13 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (716) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received votes |
| (NR) | Not ranked and did not receive votes |
The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP poll did not release a poll after the NCAA tournament.