# 2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team represented Duke University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Blue Devils were led by first year head coach Kara Lawson and played their home games at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
During the off-season, Duke announced that head coach Joanne McCallie had retired after thirteen years as head coach. On July 11, 2020, Kara Lawson was announced as the new head coach.
On December 25, 2020, it was announced that the team would end their season due to COVID-19 concerns.
The Blue Devils finished the season 3–1, and 0–1 in ACC play. Due to their season cancellation they did not participate in the ACC tournament, NCAA tournament or WNIT.

## Previous season

The 2019-20 Blue Devils finished the season 18–12, 12–6 in ACC play to finish in third place for the regular season. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they lost to Boston College in the Quarterfinals. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Off-season
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Haley Gorecki | 2 | G | 6'0" | Senior | Palatine, IL | Graduated |
| Leaonna Odom | 5 | F | 6'2" | Senior | Lompoc, CA | Declared for 2020 WNBA draft; drafted 15th overall by New York Liberty |
| Azana Baines | 11 | G | 6'1" | Freshman | Blackwood, NJ | Transferred to Virginia Tech |
| Kyra Lambert | 15 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Student | Cibolo, TX | Graduated |
| Emily Schubert | 30 | C | 6'4" | Senior | Elizabethon, TN | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Sara Anastasieska | 11 | G | 5'11" | Graduate Student | Sydney, Australia | Cal |
| Jiselle Havas | 33 | G | 5'10" | Junior | Windermere, FL | Lafayette |

### Recruiting Class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Vanessa DeJesus PG | Valencia, CA | Sierra Canyon | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | N/A | May 21, 2019 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| 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: ||||||

## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 25, 2020* Noon, ACCN | Longwood | W 94–64 | 1–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC |
| November 29, 2020* Noon, ACCNX | Western Carolina | W 83–56 | 2–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC |
| December 5, 2020* Noon, ACCNX | East Carolina | W 72–47 | 3–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC |
| December 9, 2020 7:00 p.m., RSN | No. 2 Louisville | L 49–73 | 3–1 (0–1) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC |
| December 13, 2020 3:00 p.m., RSN | at Miami (FL) | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Watsco Center Coral Gables, FL |
| December 20, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCN | at No. 4 NC State | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC |
| December 22, 2020* 4:00 p.m., ACCN | UNC Wilmington | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| December 31, 2020 3:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 2 Louisville | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| January 3, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | Virginia Tech | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| January 7, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | at Florida State | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL |
| January 10, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | at Boston College | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Conte Forum Chestnut Hill, MA |
| January 14, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | Clemson | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| January 17, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN | at North Carolina Rivalry | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Carmichael Arena Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 21, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | Syracuse | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| January 24, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | at Georgia Tech | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | McCamish Pavilion Atlanta, GA |
| January 28, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN | NC State | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| January 31, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN | at Notre Dame | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Purcell Pavilion Notre Dame, IN |
| February 4, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | at Virginia | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA |
| February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | Miami (FL) | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| February 14, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | Pittsburgh | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| February 18, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | at Virginia Tech | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, VA |
| February 21, 2021 1:00 p.m. | at Wake Forest | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC |
| February 25, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | Virginia | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m., RSN | North Carolina Rivalry | Season Canceled | Season Canceled | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | No Change |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked |
Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.