# 2017–18 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team

The 2017–18 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini, led by first-year head coach Nancy Fahey, played their home games at State Farm Center as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 9–21, 0–16 in Big Ten play to finish in last place. They lost in the first round of the Big Ten women's tournament to Penn State.

## Previous season

The Illini finished the 2016–17 season 9–22, 3–13 in Big Ten play to finish in a four-way tie for 11th place. They advanced to the second round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they lost to Purdue.
On March 14, 2017, head coach Matt Bollant was fired. He finished at Illinois with a five-year record of 61–94. On March 22, the school hired five-time Division III national champion and two-time Division III coach of the year recipient Nancy Fahey as head coach.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 1:00 pm | | Fort Wayne | W 64–50 | 1–0 | State Farm Center (1,148) Champaign, IL |
| Nov 12, 2017* 5:00 pm | | at Florida Gulf Coast | L 61–85 | 1–1 | Alico Arena (2,202) Fort Myers, FL |
| Nov 15, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Chicago State | W 66–56 | 2–1 | State Farm Center (1,056) Champaign, IL |
| Nov 18, 2017* 2:00 pm | | Bradley | W 74–62 | 3–1 | State Farm Center (1,135) Champaign, IL |
| Nov 21, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Western Illinois | L 67–77 | 3–2 | State Farm Center (1,080) Champaign, IL |
| Nov 24, 2017* 4:30 pm | | vs. UC Irvine New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament | W 65–59 | 4–2 | Dreamstyle Arena Albuquerque, NM |
| Nov 25, 2017* 1:00 pm | | vs. Wichita State New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament | W 68–67 | 5–2 | Dreamstyle Arena (4,425) Albuquerque, NM |
| Nov 26, 2017* 3:30 pm | | vs. New Mexico New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament | L 68–97 | 5–3 | Dreamstyle Arena (4,663) Albuquerque, NM |
| Nov 30, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Virginia Tech ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 49–96 | 5–4 | State Farm Center (1,339) Champaign, IL |
| Dec 3, 2017* 2:00 pm | | at Memphis | W 63–47 | 6–4 | Elma Roane Fieldhouse (553) Memphis, TN |
| Dec 7, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Indiana State | W 81–52 | 7–4 | State Farm Center (1,044) Champaign, IL |
| Dec 12, 2017* 2:00 pm | | Detroit | W 73–65 | 8–4 | State Farm Arena (1,151) Champaign, IL |
| Dec 16, 2017* 2:00 pm | | Austin Peay | W 59–47 | 9–4 | State Farm Center (1,085) Champaign, IL |
| Dec 22, 2017* 12:00 pm | | at No. 16 Missouri | L 55–72 | 9–5 | Mizzou Arena (4,630) Columbia, MO |
| Big Ten conference season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 5:00 pm | | at No. 15 Maryland | L 65–100 | 9–6 (0–1) | Xfinity Center (7,346) College Park, MD |
| Dec 31, 2017 2:00 pm | | Northwestern | L 59–74 | 9–7 (0–2) | State Farm Center (1,412) Champaign, IL |
| Jan 3, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Rutgers | L 37–76 | 9–8 (0–3) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (1,289) Piscataway, NJ |
| Jan 7, 2018 1:00 pm, BTN | | No. 18 Iowa | L 71–84 | 9–9 (0–4) | State Farm Center (1,646) Champaign, IL |
| Jan 10, 2018 7:00 pm | | Nebraska | L 72–80 | 9–10 (0–5) | State Farm Center (1,039) Champaign, IL |
| Jan 16, 2018 8:00 pm, BTN | | Michigan State | L 55–67 | 9–11 (0–6) | State Farm Center (1,114) Champaign, IL |
| Jan 20, 2018 5:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 19 Michigan | L 42–86 | 9–12 (0–7) | Crisler Center (3,265) Ann Arbor, MI |
| Jan 23, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Penn State | L 59–68 | 9–13 (0–8) | Bryce Jordan Center (2,326) University Park, PA |
| Jan 28, 2018 3:00 pm, BTN | | Wisconsin | L 61–70 | 9–14 (0–9) | State Farm Center (3,237) Champaign, IL |
| Feb 1, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Nebraska | L 47–62 | 9–15 (0–10) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (4,618) Lincoln, NE |
| Feb 4, 2018 1:00 pm, BTN | | Purdue | L 54–73 | 9–16 (0–11) | State Farm Center (1,902) Champaign, IL |
| Feb 8, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Indiana | L 54–70 | 9–17 (0–12) | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (2,852) Bloomington, IN |
| Feb 13, 2018 7:00 pm | | No. 16 Ohio State | L 69–88 | 9–18 (0–13) | State Farm Center (1,149) Champaign, IL |
| Feb 18, 2018 2:00 pm | | at Northwestern | L 61–68 | 9–19 (0–14) | Beardsley Gym (856) Evanston, IL |
| Feb 21, 2018 6:00 pm | | at Purdue | L 51–64 | 9–20 (0–15) | Mackey Arena (5,655) West Lafayette, IN |
| Feb 25, 2018 2:00 pm | | Minnesota | L 75–84 | 9–21 (0–16) | State Farm Center (1,638) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| Feb 28, 2018 3:00 pm, RSN | (14) | vs. (11) Penn State First Round | L 57–83 | 9–22 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (3,119) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |