# 2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represented Northwestern University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats were led by 13th-year head coach Joe McKeown. They played their home games at Welsh–Ryan Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 16–9, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place. They received a bye into the Second Round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they defeated Illinois and Michigan before losing to eventual champions Maryland in the Semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the seven seed in the Alamo Regional they defeated ten seed UCF in the First Round before losing to two seed Louisville in the Second Round to end their season.

## Previous season

The Wildcats finished 26–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to finish tied for first place. As the second seed in the Big Ten women's tournament they received a double-bye into the Quarterfinals where they lost to Michigan. 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 and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| December 6, 2020* TBA | No. 17 | Bradley | Canceled | Canceled | Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL |
| December 10, 2020* 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 17 | Eastern Illinois | W 93–57 | 1–0 | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| December 14, 2020 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 16 | Minnesota | W 80–51 | 2–0 (1–0) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| December 17, 2020 6:00 p.m., BTN | No. 16 | at Purdue | W 70–54 | 3–0 (2–0) | Mackey Arena (164) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 22, 2020* 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 15 | Eastern Kentucky | W 79–50 | 4–0 | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| December 31, 2020 1:00 p.m., BTN | No. 15 | at Nebraska | L 63–65 | 4–1 (2–1) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (0) Lincoln, NE |
| January 3, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 15 | No. 16 Michigan | L 63–84 | 4–2 (2–2) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| January 6, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN | No. 22 | at Wisconsin | W 80–55 | 5–2 (3–2) | Kohl Center (0) Madison, WI |
| January 9, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN | No. 22 | Iowa | W 77–67 | 6–2 (4–2) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| January 14, 2021 TBA, BTN+ | No. 22 | at Rutgers | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| January 17, 2021 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 22 | at Penn State | W 67–50 | 7–2 (5–2) | Bryce Jordan Center (219) University Park, PA |
| January 21, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 21 | Illinois | W 73–54 | 8–2 (6–2) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| January 24, 2021 11:00 a.m., ESPN2 | No. 21 | No. 16 Indiana | L 61–74 | 8–3 (6–3) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (1) Evanston, IL |
| January 28, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN | No. 23 | at Iowa | W 87–80 | 9–3 (7–3) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (264) Iowa City, IA |
| February 1, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN | No. 22 | No. 11 Ohio State | W 69–57 | 10–3 (8–3) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 22 | at Michigan State | W 63–60 | 11–3 (9–3) | Breslin Center (0) East Lansing, MI |
| February 11, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN | No. 21 | Rutgers | L 54–70 | 11–4 (9–4) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| February 14, 2021 Noon, BTN | No. 21 | at No. 13 Ohio State | Postopned | Postopned | Value City Arena Columbus, OH |
| February 17, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 24 | Nebraska | L 64–71 | 11–5 (9–5) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| February 20, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 24 | Wisconsin | W 67–54 | 12–5 (10–5) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| February 24, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Illinois | W 67–61 | 13–5 (11–5) | State Farm Center (0) Champaign, IL |
| February 28, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | No. 8 Maryland | L 50–62 | 13–6 (11–6) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (20) Evanston, IL |
| March 6, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 12 Michigan | L 58–63 | 13–7 (11–7) | Crisler Center (60) Ann Arbor, MI |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 10, 2021 12:20 p.m., BTN | (5) | vs. (12) Illinois Second Round | W 67–42 | 14–7 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (716) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 11, 2021 12:20 p.m., FS2 | (5) | vs. (4) No. 13 Michigan Quarterfinals | W 65–49 | 15–7 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (779) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 12, 2021 1:00 p.m., FS2 | (5) | vs. (1) No. 7 Maryland Semifinals | L 52–85 | 15–8 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPNU | (7 (A)) | vs. (10 (A)) UCF First Round | W 62–51 | 16–8 | Bill Greehey Arena (0) San Antonio, TX |
| March 24, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (7 (A)) | vs. (2 (A)) No. 8 Louisville Second Round | L 53–62 | 16–9 | 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 |
| т | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |
The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.