# 2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinals, were led by 14th-year head coach Jeff Walz, and played their home games at the KFC Yum! Center in their seventh year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. On January 18, 2021, following a 12–0 start, the Cardinals were ranked number 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in program history, garnering 20 of 29 first place votes.
The Cardinals finished the season 26–4 and 14–2 in ACC play to finish in first place. In the ACC tournament, they defeated Wake Forest in the Quarterfinals and Syracuse before losing in the Final NC State. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the two seed in the Alamo Regional. In the tournament they defeated fifteen seed Marist in the First Round, seven seed Northwestern in the Second Round, and six seed Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen before losing to one seed and eventual champions Stanford in the Elite Eight to end their season.

## Previous season

The Cardinals finished the 2019–20 season at 28–4 and 16–2 in ACC play. They finished as the regular season ACC champions and earned the first seed in the ACC tournament. They defeated Syracuse in the Quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions NC State in the Semifinals. The NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Off-season
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Yacine Diop | 2 | G | 5'10" | Senior | Dakar, Senegal | Graduated |
| Seygan Robins | 3 | G | 5'10" | Sophomore | Harrodsburg, KY | Transferred to UT Martin |
| Lindsey Duvall | 12 | G | 5'9" | Sophomore | Mount Washington, KY | Transferred to Northern Kentucky |
| Kylee Shook | 21 | F | 6'4" | Senior | Colorado Springs, CO | Graduated; drafted 13th overall in the 2020 WNBA draft by the New York Liberty |
| Jazmine Jones | 23 | G | 6'0" | Senior | Tallahassee, FL | Graduated; drafted 12th overall in the 2020 WNBA draft by the New York Liberty |
| Jessica Laemmle | 24 | G | 5'2" | Senior | Louisville, KY | Graduated |
| Molly Lockhart | 30 | F | 6'3" | Freshman | Louisville, KY | — |
| Bionca Dunham | 33 | F | 6'2" | Senior | Philadelphia, PA | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Ahlana Smith | 2 | G | 5'9" | Junior | Charlotte, NC | Gulf Coast State |

### Recruiting class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Hailey Van Lith G | Wenatchee, WA | Cashmere | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Olivia Cochran F | Columbus, GA | Carver | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Merissah Russell G | Ottawa, Ontario | Cairine Wilson | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Ahlana Smith G | Charlotte, NC | Mallard Creek | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule and results

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference Regular season ||||||
| November 25, 2020* 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 5 | at Southeast Missouri | W 74–53 | 1–0 | Show Me Center (475) Cape Girardeau, MO |
| November 29, 2020* 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 5 | Eastern Kentucky | W 101–58 | 2–0 | KFC Yum! Center (2,614) Louisville, KY |
| December 4, 2020* 6:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 5 | vs. No. 20 DePaul Jimmy V Classic | W 116–75 | 3–0 | Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT |
| December 6, 2020* 2:00 p.m. | No. 5 | UT Martin | W 85–67 | 4–0 | KFC Yum! Center (2,709) Louisville, KY |
| ACC Regular season ||||||
| December 9, 2020 7:00 p.m., RSN | No. 2 | at Duke | W 73–49 | 5–0 (1–0) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC |
| December 13, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 2 | North Carolina | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| December 17, 2020 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 2 | Florida State | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| December 20, 2020 1:00 p.m., RSN | No. 2 | Miami (FL) | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| January 1, 2020 3:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 2 | Northern Kentucky | W 74–64 | 6–0 | KFC Yum! Center (0) Louisville, KY |
| January 2, 2020 Noon, ACCNX | No. 2 | Bellarmine | W 97–46 | 7–0 | KFC Yum! Center (2,718) Louisville, KY |
| January 3, 2021 Noon, ACCN | No. 2 | at Virginia | Postponed | Postponed | John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA |
| January 5, 2021 2:30 p.m., ACCN | No. 2 | North Carolina | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| January 5, 2021 2:30 p.m., ACCN | No. 2 | UT Martin | W 96–61 | 8–0 | KFC Yum! Center (2,754) Louisville, KY |
| January 7, 2021 6:30 p.m., RSN | No. 2 | Pittsburgh | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| January 7, 2021 8:00 p.m., RSN | No. 2 | at Virginia Tech | W 71–67 | 9–0 (2–0) | Cassell Coliseum (250) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 10, 2021 Noon, ACCN | No. 2 | at Florida State | Postponed | Postponed | Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL |
| January 10, 2021 Noon, ACCN | No. 2 | Clemson | W 70–45 | 10–0 (3–0) | KFC Yum! Center (2,734) Louisville, KY |
| January 14, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 2 | Boston College | W 89–70 | 11–0 (4–0) | KFC Yum! Center (2,604) Louisville, KY |
| January 17, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 2 | No. 3 NC State | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| January 17, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 2 | Florida State | W 84–56 | 12–0 (5–0) | KFC Yum! Center (2,804) Louisville, KY |
| January 21, 2021 9:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | No. 23 Syracuse | W 67–54 | 13–0 (6–0) | KFC Yum! Center (2,643) Louisville, KY |
| January 24, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | at Wake Forest | W 65–63 | 14–0 (7–0) | LJVM Coliseum (0) Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 26, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | Miami (FL) | W 79–76 | 15–0 (8–0) | KFC Yum! Center (2,653) Louisville, KY |
| January 28, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | North Carolina | W 79–68 | 16–0 (9–0) | KFC Yum! Center (2,748) Louisville, KY |
| February 1, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | No. 4 NC State | L 60–74 | 16–1 (9–1) | KFC Yum! Center (2,989) Louisville, KY |
| February 4, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | at Boston College | W 97–68 | 17–1 (10–1) | Conte Forum (0) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | Notre Dame | W 71–65 | 18–1 (11–1) | KFC Yum! Center (2,912) Louisville, KY |
| February 11, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | Georgia Tech | W 85–70 | 19–1 (12–1) | KFC Yum! Center (2,914) Louisville, KY |
| February 14, 2021 1:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 3 | at Syracuse | Postponed | Postponed | Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY |
| February 18, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 3 | at Pittsburgh | W 82–58 | 20–1 (13–1) | Peterson Events Center (500) Pittsburgh, PA |
| February 21, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | at Florida State | L 59–68 | 20–2 (13–2) | Donald L. Tucker Center (1,258) Tallahassee, FL |
| February 28, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 6 | at Notre Dame | W 78–61 | 21–2 (14–2) | Purcell Pavilion (126) Notre Dame, IN |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 5, 2021 Noon, RSN | (1) No. 5 | vs. (9) Wake Forest Quarterfinals | W 65–53 | 22–2 | Greensboro Coliseum (592) Greensboro, NC |
| March 6, 2021 Noon, ACCN | (1) No. 5 | vs. (5) Syracuse Semifinals | W 72–59 | 23–2 | Greensboro Coliseum (1,122) Greensboro, NC |
| March 7, 2021 Noon, ESPN2 | (1) No. 5 | vs. (2) No. 3 NC State Final | L 56–58 | 23–3 | Greensboro Coliseum (2,063) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2021 8:00 p.m., ESPN | (2 A) No. 8 | vs. (15 A) Marist First Round | W 74–43 | 24–3 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| March 24, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (2 A) No. 8 | vs. (7 A) Northwestern Second Round | W 62–53 | 25–3 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| March 28, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (2 A) No. 8 | vs. (6 A) No. 23 Oregon Sweet Sixteen | W 60–42 | 26–3 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| March 30, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (2 A) No. 8 | vs. (1 A) No. 2 Stanford Elite Eight | L 63–78 | 26–4 | Alamodome (1,463) San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. A=Alamo. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.
$^A$ This is the first time Louisville has been ranked number 1 in the AP Women's Basketball Poll in program history.