# 2020–21 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team

The 2020–21 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears, led by second year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference.
They finished the season 23–3 and 16–0 in conference play to finish as Missouri Valley Conference champions. As the first seed in the Missouri Valley tournament, they defeated Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals before having to forfeit their semifinal game. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the fifth seed in the Alamo Regional. They defeated twelve seed UC Davis and thirteen seed Wright State before falling to the first seed Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen.

## Previous season

The Lady Bears finished the season 26–4, 16–2 in MVC play to finish in first place. The Missouri Valley tournament and NCAA tournament were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 27, 2020* 4:30 p.m., FloHoops | No. 24 | at Florida Gulf Coast Gulf Coast Showcase | W 74–49 | 1–0 | Alico Arena (0) Fort Myers, FL |
| November 28, 2020* 4:30 p.m., FloHoops | No. 24 | vs. No. 12 Maryland Gulf Coast Showcase | W 81–72 | 2–0 | Alico Arena (0) Fort Myers, FL |
| November 29, 2020* 1:30 p.m., FloHoops | No. 24 | vs. Wake Forest Gulf Coast Showcase | L 59–68 | 2–1 | Alico Arena (0) Fort Myers, FL |
| December 5, 2020* 1:00 p.m. | No. 21 | Tulsa | Canceled | Canceled | JQH Arena Springfield, MO |
| December 7, 2020* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 21 | Lincoln | W 100–38 | 3–1 | JQH Arena (1,006) Springfield, MO |
| December 14, 2020* 7:00 p.m., SECN+ | No. 20 | at Missouri | W 72–58 | 4–1 | Mizzou Arena (1,743) Columbia, MO |
| December 19, 2020* 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 20 | South Dakota State | L 52–60 | 4–2 | JQH Arena (1,362) Springfield, MO |
| Missouri Valley Conference Season ||||||
| January 15, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Northern Iowa | W 70–51 | 5–2 (1–0) | McLeod Center (462) Cedar Falls, IA |
| January 16, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Northern Iowa | W 64–60 | 6–2 (2–0) | McLeod Center (492) Cedar Falls, IA |
| January 22, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Drake | W 73–72 | 7–2 (3–0) | JQH Arena (1,727) Springfield, MO |
| January 23, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Drake | W 78–63 | 8–2 (4–0) | JQH Arena (1,436) Springfield, MO |
| January 27, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Southern Illinois | W 61–44 | 9–2 (5–0) | JQH Arena (1,001) Springfield, MO |
| January 30, 2021 1:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Valparaiso | W 61–51 | 10–2 (6–0) | Athletics–Recreation Center (77) Valparaiso, IN |
| January 31, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Valparaiso | W 74–73 | 11–2 (7–0) | Athletics–Recreation Center (75) Valparaiso, IN |
| February 5, 2021 7:00 p.m. | | Indiana State | Canceled | Canceled | JQH Arena Springfield, MO |
| February 6, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Indiana State | Canceled | Canceled | JQH Arena Springfield, MO |
| February 12, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 25 | at Illinois State | W 69–52 | 12–2 (8–0) | Redbird Arena (0) Normal, IL |
| February 13, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 25 | at Illinois State | W 73–72 | 13–2 (9–0) | Redbird Arena (0) Normal, IL |
| February 19, 2021 :00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 25 | Bradley | W 62–56 | 14–2 (10–0) | JQH Arena (1,103) Springfield, MO |
| February 20, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 25 | Bradley | W 75–62 | 15–2 (11–0) | JQH Arena (1,613) Springfield, MO |
| February 24, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 23 | at Southern Illinois | W 67–55 | 16–2 (12–0) | SIU Arena (50) Carbondale, IL |
| February 27, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 23 | Loyola–Chicago | W 64–50 | 17–2 (13–0) | JQH Arena (1,373) Springfield, MO |
| February 28, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 23 | Loyola–Chicago | W 59–45 | 18–2 (14–0) | JQH Arena (1,294) Springfield, MO |
| March 5, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 23 | at Evansville | W 87–54 | 19–2 (15–0) | Meeks Family Fieldhouse (0) Evansville, IN |
| March 6, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 23 | at Evansville | W 85–44 | 20–2 (16–0) | Meeks Family Fieldhouse (0) Evansville, IN |
| Missouri Valley women's tournament ||||||
| March 12, 2021 11:00 a.m., ESPN+ | (1) No. 21 | vs. (8) Southern Illinois Quarterfinals | W 70–59 | 21–2 | TaxSlayer Center (0) Moline, IL |
| March 13, 2021 1:00 p.m., ESPN+ | (1) No. 21 | vs. (2) Drake Semifinals | Canceled | Canceled | TaxSlayer Center Moline, IL |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2021 6:30 p.m., ESPNU | (5 A) No. 20 | vs. (12 A) UC Davis First Round | W 70–51 | 22–2 | Bill Greehey Arena (0) San Antonio, TX |
| March 24, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPNU | (5 A) No. 20 | vs. (13 A) Wright State Second Round | W 64–39 | 23–2 | Convocation Center (0) San Antonio, TX |
| March 28, 2021 2:00 p.m., ABC | (5 A) No. 20 | vs. (1 A) No. 2 Stanford Sweet 16 | L 62–89 | 23–3 | Alamodome (0) San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. A=Alamo. All times are in Central 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.