# 2020–21 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball team represented Rutgers University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Scarlet Knights, led by 26th year head coach C. Vivian Stringer, played their home games at the Louis Brown Athletic Center, better known as The RAC, as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 14–5, 10–3 in Big Ten play to finish in third place. They received a double-bye into the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten women's tournament when they lost to Iowa. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the six seed in the Mercado Regional they lost to BYU in the First Round to end their season.

## Previous season

The Scarlet Knights finished the season 22–8, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten women's tournament where they lost to Indiana. They did not get a chance for further post season play, as the NCAA women's basketball tournament and WNIT were cancelled before they began due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 27, 2020* 11:00 a.m., BTN+ | | Monmouth | W 82–38 | 1–0 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 11, 2020 4:30 p.m., BTN | | at Wisconsin | W 70–65 | 2–0 (1–0) | Kohl Center (0) Madison, WI |
| December 14, 2020 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 14 Maryland | L 87–91 | 2–1 (1–1) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 18, 2020* Noon, BTN+ | | Hampton | W 94–45 | 3–1 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 20, 2020* 8:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Sacred Heart | W 99–30 | 4–1 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 23, 2020* Noon, BTN+ | | Manhattan | W 84–41 | 5–1 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 31, 2020 3:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Iowa | L 84–90 | 5–2 (1–2) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (328) Iowa City, IA |
| January 3, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Nebraska | L 50–53 | 5–3 (1–3) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (0) Lincoln, NE |
| January 7, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN | | Purdue | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| January 10, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPNU | | at Ohio State | Postponed | Postponed | Value City Arena Columbus, OH |
| January 14, 2021 | | No. 22 Northwestern | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| January 24, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN | | Iowa | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| January 28, 2021 | | at No. 7 Maryland | Postponed | Postponed | Xfinity Center College Park, MD |
| February 1, 2021 | | No. 13 Michigan | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| February 4, 2021 8:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 17 Indiana | Postponed | Postponed | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN |
| February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Nebraska | W 78–62 | 6–3 (2–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| February 11, 2021 4:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 21 Northwestern | W 70–54 | 7–3 (3–3) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| February 14, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Purdue | W 75–57 | 8–3 (4–3) | Mackey Arena (161) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 17, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Minnesota | W 83–56 | 9–3 (5–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| February 20, 2021 Noon, BTN | | Illinois | W 75–46 | 10–3 (6–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ |
| February 24, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN | No. 25 | at Michigan State | W 63–53 | 11–3 (7–3) | Breslin Center (36) East Lansing, MI |
| February 28, 2021 12:30 p.m., BTN | No. 25 | at Penn State | W 60–55 | 12–3 (8–3) | Bryce Jordan Center (221) University Park, PA |
| March 2, 2021 5:30 p.m., BTN | No. 24 | Penn State | W 74–56 | 13–3 (9–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (60) Piscataway, NJ |
| March 5, 2021 8:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 24 | No. 22 Ohio State | W 71–63 | 14–3 (10–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (108) Piscataway, NJ |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2021 9:00 p.m., FS2 | (3) No. 19 | vs. (6) Iowa Quarterfinals | L 62–73 | 14–4 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2021 Noon, ESPNU | (6) No. 21 | vs. (11) BYU First Round | L 66–69 | 14–5 | Strahan Arena (0) San Marcos, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## 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.