# 2020–21 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team represented the University of Iowa during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Hawkeyes were led by twenty-first year head coach Lisa Bluder and played their home games at Carver–Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, IA as members of the Big Ten Conference.
The Hawkeyes finished the season 20–10, 11–8 in Big Ten play to finish in sixth place. They received a bye into the Second Round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they defeated Purdue, Rutgers, and Michigan before losing in the final to Maryland. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the five seed in the Riverwalk Regional, they defeated twelve seed Central Michigan and four seed Kentucky before losing to one seed UConn to end their season.

## Previous season

The Hawkeyes finished the season 26–4, 14–4 in Big Ten play to finish in third place. In the Big Ten tournament they lost to Ohio State in the first round. 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.

### Departures

| Name | # | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Mackenzie Meyer | 3 | G | 5'10" | Senior | Mason City, IA | Completed college eligibility |
| Kathleen Doyle | 22 | G | 5'9" | Senior | La Grange Park, IL | Completed college eligibility/ Declared for WNBA Draft |
| Paula Valiño Ramos | 31 | F/C | 6'3" | Junior | Ourense, Spain | |
| Amanda Ollinger | 43 | F | 6'1" | Senior | Cedar Rapids, IA | Completed college eligibility |

### Recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Caitlin Clark PG | West Des Moines, IA | Dowling Catholic | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A | Nov 12, 2019 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Sharon Goodman P | Cresco, IA | Crestwood | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | N/A | Aug 25, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Shateah Wetering W | Montezuma, IA | Montezuma Community | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | N/A | Dec 31, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Lauren Jensen G | Lakeville, MN | Lakeville North | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A | Mar 18, 2019 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 89 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ESPN: 15 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024. ||||||

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site city, state |
| Regular season |||||||||
| November 25, 2020* 6:30 p.m. | | Northern Iowa | W 96–81 | 1–0 | 27 – Clark | 13 – Warnock | 6 – Warnock | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (365) Iowa City, IA |
| December 2, 2020* 6:00 p.m. | | at Drake | W 103–97 | 2–0 | 30 – Clark | 8 – Warnock | 13 – Clark | Knapp Center (116) Des Moines, IA |
| December 5, 2020 2:00 p.m. | | Wisconsin | W 85–78 | 3–0 (1–0) | 23 – Clark | 9 – Czinano | 6 – Martin | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (325) Iowa City, IA |
| December 9, 2020* 6:30 p.m. | | Iowa State Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series | W 82–80 | 4–0 | 34 – Clark | 7 – Tied | 6 – Clark | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (326) Iowa City, IA |
| December 12, 2020 3:00 p.m. | | at Michigan State | L 82–86 | 4–1 (1–1) | 35 – Clark | 12 – Warnock | 6 – Warnock | Breslin Center (0) East Lansing, MI |
| December 22, 2020* 1:00 p.m. | | Western Illinois | W 92–65 | 5–1 | 19 – Czinano | 13 – Clark | 10 – Clark | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (344) Iowa City, IA |
| December 31, 2020 2:00 p.m. | | Rutgers | W 90–84 | 6–1 (2–1) | 28 – Clark | 9 – Warnock | 6 – Tied | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (328) Iowa City, IA |
| January 3, 2021 1:00 p.m. | | at Illinois | W 107–68 | 7–1 (3–1) | 21 – Clark | 7 – Tied | 4 – Tied | State Farm Center (0) Champaign, IL |
| January 6, 2021 6:00 p.m. | | Minnesota | W 92–79 | 8–1 (4–1) | 37 – Clark | 11 – Clark | 5 – Clark | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (296) Iowa City, IA |
| January 9, 2021 6:00 p.m. | | at No. 22 Northwestern | L 67–77 | 8–2 (4–2) | 28 – Czinano | 17 – Warnock | 8 – Clark | Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL |
| January 13, 2021 3:00 p.m. | | No. 15 Ohio State | L 82–84 $^{OT}$ | 8–3 (4–3) | 27 – Clark | 12 – Warnock | 5 – Tied | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (326) Iowa City, IA |
| January 18, 2021 3:30 p.m. | | Purdue | W 87–81 | 9–3 (5–3) | 26 – Clark | 9 – Tied | 5 – Czinano | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (293) Iowa City, IA |
| January 21, 2021 4:00 p.m. | | at Maryland | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Xfinity Center College Park, MD |
| January 23, 2021 3:00 p.m. | | at Rutgers | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ |
| January 28, 2021 5:00 p.m. | | No. 23 Northwestern | L 80–87 | 9–4 (5–4) | 34 – Czinano | 14 – Warnock | 8 – Clark | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (264) Iowa City, IA |
| January 31, 2021 4:00 p.m. | | at Minnesota | W 94–68 | 10–4 (6–4) | 23 – Czinano | 10 – Warnock | 11 – Clark | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 4, 2021 5:00 p.m. | | at No. 11 Ohio State | L 87–92 | 10–5 (6–5) | 30 – Clark | 6 – Czinano | 9 – Clark | Value City Arena (54) Columbus, OH |
| February 7, 2021 1:00 p.m. | | No. 17 Indiana | L 72–85 | 10–6 (6–6) | 30 – Clark | 15 – Warnock | 4 – Tied | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (265) Iowa City, IA |
| February 11, 2021 7:00 p.m. | | at Nebraska | W 88–81 | 11–6 (7–6) | 39 – Clark | 10 – Clark | 9 – Clark | Pinnacle Bank Arena (0) Lincoln, NE |
| February 18, 2021 3:00 p.m. | | Penn State | W 96–78 | 12–6 (8–6) | 32 – Clark | 8 – Czinano | 11 – Martin | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (274) Iowa City, IA |
| February 21, 2021 TBA | | at Indiana | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Postponed | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN |
| February 23, 2021 Noon | | at No. 8 Maryland | L 93–111 | 12–7 (8–7) | 34 – Clark | 5 – Czinano | 7 – Clark | Xfinity Center (0) College Park, MD |
| February 25, 2021 3:30 p.m. | | No. 12 Michigan | W 89–67 | 13–7 (9–7) | 27 – Clark | 5 – Clark | 9 – Clark | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (332) Iowa City, IA |
| February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m. | | at Wisconsin | W 84–70 | 14–7 (10–7) | 19 – Marshall | 7 – Clark | 14 – Clark | Kohl Center (0) Madison, WI |
| March 3, 2021 3:30 p.m. | | at No. 10 Indiana | L 80–89 | 14–8 (10–8) | 32 – Clark | 6 – Czinano | 5 – Tied | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (0) Bloomington, IN |
| March 6, 2021 7:00 p.m. | | Nebraska | W 83–75 | 15–8 (11–8) | 35 – Clark | 8 – Tied | 5 – Martin | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (301) Iowa City, IA |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament |||||||||
| March 10, 2021 7:30 p.m., FS2 | (6) | vs. (11) Purdue Second Round | W 83–72 | 16–8 | 38 – Czinano | 9 – Czinano | 9 – Clark | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (1,064) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 11, 2021 8:00 p.m., FS2 | (6) | vs. (3) No. 19 Rutgers Quarterfinals | W 73–62 | 17–8 | 27 – Marshall | 12 – Warnock | 10 – Clark | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 12, 2021 3:00 p.m., FS2 | (6) | vs. (7) Michigan State Semifinals | W 87–72 | 18–8 | 27 – Czinano | 11 – Warnock | 11 – Clark | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 13, 2021 1:00 p.m., ESPNU | (6) | vs. (1) No. 7 Maryland Final | L 84–104 | 18–9 | 22 – Czinano | 10 – Warnock | 7 – Clark | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (1,202) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament |||||||||
| March 21, 2021 11:00 p.m., ESPN | (5 R) | vs. (12 R) Central Michigan First Round | W 87–72 | 19–9 | 23 – Tied | 10 – Warnock | 7 – Clark | Alamodome (0) San Antonio, TX |
| March 23, 2021 2:30 p.m., ESPNU | (5 R) | vs. (4 R) No. 18 Kentucky Second Round | W 86–72 | 20–9 | 35 – Clark | 8 – Tied | 6 – Clark | Bill Greehey Arena (0) San Antonio, TX |
| March 27, 2021 Noon, ABC | (5 A) | vs. (1 A) No. 1 UConn Sweet Sixteen | L 72–92 | 20–10 | 21 – Clark | 5 – Tied | 5 – Tied | Alamodome (0) San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. R=River Walk. 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.