# 2021–22 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball team represented Purdue University during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Boilermakers, led by 1st year head coach Katie Gearlds, played their home games at Mackey Arena and were a members of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 17–15 and 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for ninth place. As the ninth seed in the Big Ten tournament, they were defeated by Michigan State in the Second Round. They received an at-large bid to the WNIT. They defeated Southern Illinois in the First Round before losing to Marquette in the Second Round to end their season.

## Previous season

The Boilermakers finished the season 7–16 and 4–14 in Big Ten play to finish in twelfth place. As the eleventh seed in the Big Ten tournament, they were defeated by Iowa in the Second Round. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 7, 2021* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Findlay | W 89–64 | – | Mackey Arena (3,415) West Lafayette, IN |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 10, 2021* 7:30 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Western Kentucky | W 79–69 | 1–0 | E. A. Diddle Arena (1,214) Bowling Green, KY |
| November 14, 2021* 2:30 p.m., BTN | | Western Michigan | W 70–62 | 2–0 | Mackey Arena (2,062) West Lafayette, IN |
| November 14, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Illinois State | W 76–64 | 3–0 | Redbird Arena (672) Normal, IL |
| November 20, 2021* 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Dayton | L 62–78 | 3–1 | Mackey Arena (1,938) West Lafayette, IN |
| November 22, 2021* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Marshall | W 70–60 | 4–1 | Mackey Arena (1,526) West Lafayette, IN |
| November 25, 2021* 5:00 p.m., FloHoops | | vs. No. 22 West Virginia St. Pete Showcase | L 57–65 | 4–2 | McArthur Gymnasium (401) St. Petersburg, FL |
| November 27, 2021* p.m., FloHoops | | vs. No. 17 Florida State St. Pete Showcase | W 66–61 | 5–2 | McArthur Center (250) St. Petersburg, FL |
| December 1, 2021* 7:00 p.m., BTN | | Georgia Tech ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | W 53–52 | 6–2 | Mackey Arena (1,539) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 5, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | No. 18 Ohio State | L 53–70 | 6–3 (0–1) | Mackey Arena (3,236) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 8, 2021* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 8 Maryland | L 71–86 | 6–4 (0–2) | Xfinity Center (4,254) College Park, MD |
| December 12, 2021* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Denver | W 101–86 | 7–4 | Mackey Arena (2,791) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 19, 2021* 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Miami (OH) | W 82–76 | 8–4 | Mackey Arena (3,006) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 21, 2021* 11:00 a.m., BTN+ | | North Alabama | W 86–53 | 9–4 | Mackey Arena (5,457) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 30, 2021 9:00 p.m., BTN | | at Wisconsin | Postponed to February 13, 2022 | Postponed to February 13, 2022 | Kohl Center Madison, WI |
| January 2, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Rutgers | W 60–58 | 10–4 (1–2) | Mackey Arena (3,074) West Lafayette, IN |
| January 9, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Michigan State | W 69–59 | 11–4 (2–2) | Breslin Center (4,220) East Lansing, MI |
| January 13, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Iowa | L 66–79 | 11–5 (2–3) | Mackey Arena (3,103) West Lafayette, IN |
| January 16, 2022 2:00 p.m., FS1 | | No. 6 Indiana | L 68–73 $^{OT}$ | 11–6 (2–4) | Mackey Arena (8,505) West Lafayette, IN |
| January 20, 2022 8:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Illinois | W 89–67 | 12–6 (3–4) | State Farm Center (1,038) Champaign, IL |
| January 6, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN | | at No. 7 Michigan | L 66–79 | 12–7 (3–5) | Crisler Center (1,845) Ann Arbor, MI |
| January 27, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Minnesota | W 80–66 | 13–7 (4–5) | Mackey Arena (2,901) West Lafayette, IN |
| January 30, 2022 3:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Nebraska | L 66–81 | 13–8 (4–6) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (4,810) Lincoln, NE |
| February 4, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Northwestern | L 67–80 | 13–9 (4–7) | Mackey Arena (2,862) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 6, 2022 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at No. 5 Indiana | L 57–64 | 13–10 (4–8) | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (7,891) Bloomington, IN |
| February 9, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Penn State | W 81–77 | 14–10 (5–8) | Mackey Arena (2,902) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 13, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Wisconsin Rescheduled from December 30, 2021 | L 52–54 | 14–11 (5–9) | Kohl Center (2,869) Madison, WI |
| February 17, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Illinois | W 70–54 | 15–11 (6–9) | Mackey Arena (2,983) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 20, 2022 1:00 p.m., BTN | | at Rutgers | W 70–59 | 16–11 (7–9) | Jersey Mike's Arena (2,961) Piscataway, NJ |
| February 24, 2022 8:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Northwestern | L 51–68 | 16–12 (7–10) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,481) Evanston, IL |
| February 27, 2022 1:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Wisconsin | L 62–63 | 16–13 (7–11) | Mackey Arena (4,811) West Lafayette, IN |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 3, 2022 11:30 a.m., BTN | (9) | vs. (8) Michigan State Second Round | L 69–73 | 16–14 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| WNIT ||||||
| March 16, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Southern Illinois First Round | W 82–60 | 17–14 | Mackey Arena (769) West Lafayette, IN |
| March 21, 2022 8:00 p.m., FloHoops | | at Marquette Second Round | L 62–77 | 17–15 | Al McGuire Center (1,311) Milwaukee, WI |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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.