# 2021–22 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini, led by fifth-year head coach Nancy Fahey, played their home games at State Farm Center as members of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 7–20, 1–13 in Big Ten play to finish in fourteenth 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 the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Previous season

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Illini played fewer non-conference games than in previous seasons; three games were originally postponed and later canceled due to the pandemic. They finished the season 5–18, 2–16 in Big Ten play to finish in thirteenth place. They lost in the second round of the Big Ten women's tournament to Northwestern. Their first round win against Wisconsin was the first Big Ten tournament victory in coach Fahey's tenure at Illinois.

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 9, 2021* 11:00 a.m., BTN+ | | North Carolina Central | W 73–56 | 1–0 | State Farm Center (1,983) Champaign, IL |
| November 14, 2021* 3:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Miami (OH) | W 72–65 | 2–0 | State Farm Center (1,121) Champaign, IL |
| November 18, 2021* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | SIUE | L 62–71 | 2–1 | State Farm Center (1,008) Champaign, IL |
| November 21, 2021* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | UC Riverside | W 86–82 | 3–1 | State Farm Center (1,053) Champaign, IL |
| November 26, 2021* 1:15 p.m., FloHoops | | vs. Dayton Daytona Beach Invitational | L 53–67 | 3–2 | Ocean Center (0) Daytona Beach, FL |
| November 27, 2021* 11:00 a.m., FloHoops | | vs. Middle Tennessee Daytona Beach Invitational | L 52–62 | 3–3 | Ocean Center (0) Daytona Beach, FL |
| December 2, 2021* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 25 Florida State ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 58–67 | 3–4 | State Farm Center (1,027) Champaign, IL |
| December 5, 2021* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Eastern Kentucky | W 71–57 | 4–4 | State Farm Center (1,227) Champaign, IL |
| December 9, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Michigan State | L 60–75 | 4–5 (0–1) | Breslin Center (3,213) East Lansing, MI |
| December 12, 2021* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Butler | W 78–66 | 5–5 | State Farm Center (1,015) Champaign, IL |
| December 19, 2021* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Southern Illinois | L 51–66 | 5–6 | Banterra Center (539) Carbondale, IL |
| December 22, 2021* Noon, BTN+ | | Missouri | L 65–84 | 5–7 | State Farm Center (1,247) Champaign, IL |
| December 30, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 6 Maryland | Canceled | Canceled | State Farm Center Champaign, IL |
| January 6, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Ohio State | L 69–90 | 5–8 (0–2) | Value City Arena (2,567) Columbus, OH |
| January 9, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Wisconsin | W 68–47 | 6–8 (1–2) | State Farm Center (2,066) Champaign, IL |
| January 16, 2022 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Penn State | L 72–90 | 6–9 (1–3) | Bryce Jordan Center (2,048) University Park, PA |
| January 20, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Purdue | L 67–89 | 6–10 (1–4) | State Farm Center (1,038) Champaign, IL |
| January 23, 2022 5:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 25 Iowa | L 56–82 | 6–11 (1–5) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (8,977) Iowa City, IA |
| January 27, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 6 Indiana | Canceled | Canceled | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN |
| January 30, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Northwestern | Canceled | Canceled | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL |
| February 3, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 6 Michigan | Canceled | Canceled | State Farm Center Champaign, IL |
| February 6, 2022 1:00 p.m., BTN | | at Wisconsin | L 62–70 | 6–12 (1–6) | Kohl Center (6,007) Madison, WI |
| February 9, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 7 Indiana | L 61–93 | 6–13 (1–7) | State Farm Center (1,198) Champaign, IL |
| February 12, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Nebraska | L 63–82 | 6–14 (1–8) | State Farm Center (1,182) Champaign, IL |
| February 14, 2022 8:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 18 Ohio State | L 67–86 | 6–15 (1–9) | State Farm Center (997) Champaign, IL |
| February 17, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Purdue | L 54–70 | 6–16 (1–10) | Mackey Arena (2,983) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 20, 2022 4:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Northwestern | L 59–82 | 6–17 (1–11) | State Farm Center (942) Champaign, IL |
| February 24, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Minnesota | L 54–87 | 6–18 (1–12) | Williams Arena (2,896) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 27, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Rutgers | L 56–66 | 6–19 (1–13) | State Farm Center (1,445) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 2, 2022 3:30 p.m., BTN | (14) | vs. (11) Wisconsin First Round | W 75–66 | 7–19 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 3, 2022 7:30 p.m., BTN | (14) | vs. (6) Nebraska Second Round | L 74–92 | 7–20 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: — = Not ranked :
| | 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 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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.