# 2021–22 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by fourth-year head coach Lindsay Whalen, played their home games at Williams Arena and compete as members of the Big Ten Conference.
The Golden Gophers are currently 14-17 and 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in tenth place. As the tenth seed in the Big Ten tournament, they were defeated by Northwestern in the second round. They were not invited to the NCAA Tournament, but were chosen as an at-large team for the WNIT.

## Previous season

The Golden Gophers finished the season 8–13 and 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in tenth place. As the ninth seed in the Big Ten tournament, they were defeated by Nebraska in the second round. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Justice Ross | 24 | F | 6'0" | RS Freshman | Des Moines, IA | Transferred to New Orleans |

### Arrivals

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School | Notes |
| Deja Winters | 3 | G | 5'11" | Grad Senior | Cleveland, Ohio | North Carolina A&T | Grad Transfer - Able to Play Immediately |
| Bailey Helgren | 35 | C | 6'5" | Grad Senior | Edina, Minnesota | Kansas | Grad Transfer - Able to Play Immediately |

### 2021 Recruiting Class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Maggie Czinano G | Watertown, MN | Watertown-Mayer High School | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Alanna Micheaux F | Wayne, MI | Wayne Memorial High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| 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: ||||||
* Katie Borowicz was originally a member of the 2021 Recruiting Class. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota early and joined the team for the 2020-21 Season.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 10/31/21* 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Minnesota-Crookston | W 78–33 | | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/9/21* 12:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Jacksonville | L 66–69 | 0–1 | Williams Arena (2,554) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/12/21* 8:00 pm | | at Arizona State | W 66–59 $^{OT}$ | 1–1 | Desert Financial Arena (4,111) Tempe, AZ |
| 11/14/2021* 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | George Washington | W 48–32 | 2–1 | Williams Arena (3,056) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/17/2021* 7:00 pm, BTN Plus | | American | W 73-56 | 3-1 | Williams Arena (2,643) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/20/2021* 11:00 am, Flo Hoops | | vs. No. 2 Connecticut Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, preliminary | L 58-88 | 3-2 | Imperial Arena (1,175) Paradise Island, Bahamas |
| 11/21/2021* 4:00 pm, Flo Hoops | | vs. Syracuse Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, Consolation 2nd Round | W 70-63 | 4-2 | Imperial Arena (420) Paradise Island, Bahamas |
| 11/22/2021* Flo Hoops | | vs. Oklahoma Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, 5th Place Game | L 69-88 | 4-3 | Imperial Arena (267) Paradise Island, Bahamas |
| 11/26/2021* 3:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Bradley | W 73-54 | 5-3 | Williams Arena (3,389) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/28/2021* 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | UTSA | W 81-52 | 6-3 | Williams Arena (3,150) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/1/2021* 8:00 pm, BTN | | North Carolina Big Ten/ACC Challenge | L 76-82 | 6-4 | Williams Arena (3,432) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/6/2021 7:00 pm, BTN | | Nebraska | L 67-70 | 6-5 (0-1) | Williams Arena (3,300) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/12/2021 1:00 pm, BTN Plus | | at No. 13 Michigan | L 61-73 | 6-6 (0-2) | Crisler Center (2,484) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 12/12/2021* 7:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Ohio | W 99-93 | 7-6 (0-2) | Williams Arena (2,751) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/23/2021* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Drake | L 63-77 | 7-7 (0-2) | Knapp Center (2,183) Des Moines, IA |
| 01/6/2022 6:00 pm | | at Rutgers | W 62-49 | 8-7 (1-2) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (1,001) Piscataway, New Jersey |
| 01/9/2022 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | No. 10 Maryland | L 73-87 | 8-8 (1-3) | Williams Arena (3,447) Minneapolis MN |
| 01/12/2020 6:30 pm, BTN Plus | | at Wisconsin | W 82-66 | 9-8 (2-3) | Kohl Center (2,157) Madison, WI |
| 01/15/2022 5:00 pm, BTN Plus | | No. RV Ohio State | L 75-83 | 9-9 (2-4) | Williams Arena (3,177) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/20/2022 7:00 pm, BTN | | No. 25 Iowa | L 49-105 | 9-10 (2-5) | Williams Arena (3,741) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/23/2022 1:00 pm | | at Michigan State | L 71-74 | 9-11 (2-6) | Breslin Center (2,899) East Lansing, MI |
| 01/27/2022 6:00 pm, BTN Plus | | at Purdue | L 66-80 | 9-12 (2-7) | Mackey Arena (2,901) West Lafayette, IN |
| 01/30/2022 2:00 pm, BTN | | Wisconsin | W 57-55 | 10-12 (3-7) | Williams Arena (4,482) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/3/2022 6:00 pm, BTN Plus | | at No. 5 Indiana | L 70-80 | 10-13 (3-8) | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (No Attendance - Weather) Bloomington, IN |
| 02/06/2022 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Michigan State | W 71-60 | 11-13 (4-8) | Williams Arena (3,150) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/10/2022 6:30 pm | | at Iowa | L 78-88 | 11-14 (4-9) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (8,141) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/11/2022 3:30 pm, BTN Plus | | Northwestern | W 74-68 | 12-14 (5-9) | Williams Arena (2,734) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/17/2022 7:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Rutgers | L 61-79 | 12-15 (5-10) | Williams Arena (2,747) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/30/2022 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | at No. RV Nebraska | L 70-93 | 12-16 (5-11) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (6,566) Lincoln, NE |
| 02/24/2022 7:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Illinois | W 87-54 | 13-16 (6-11) | Williams Arena (2,896) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/30/2022 BTN | | at Penn State | W 94-83 | 14-16 (7-11) | Bryce Jordan Center (2,401) University Park, PA |
| Big Ten Women's tournament ||||||
| March 3, 2022 5:30 pm, BTN | (10) | vs. (7) Northwestern 2nd Round | L 60-65 | 14-17 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (–) Indianapolis, IN |
| WNIT ||||||
| March 17, 2022* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Green Bay 1st Round | W 73-65 | 15-17 | Kress Events Center (–) Green Bay, WI |
| March 20, 2022* 2:00 pm | | at South Dakota State 2nd Round | L 57–78 | 15-18 | Frost Arena (–) Brookings, SD |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked and Did not receive votes |