# 2018–19 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2018–19 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by first-year head coach Lindsay Whalen, played their home games at Williams Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 21–11, 9–9 in Big Ten play to finish in a 4-way tie for fifth place. They lost in the second round of the Big Ten women's tournament to Indiana. They received at-large bid of the WNIT. There they defeated Northern Iowa in the first round before losing to Cincinnati in the second round.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/09/2018* 8:00 pm | | New Hampshire | W 70–47 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/14/2018* 6:00 pm | No. 25 | at Xavier | W 78–53 | 2–0 | Cintas Center (831) Cincinnati, OH |
| 11/17/2018* 7:30 pm | No. 25 | San Diego | W 53–48 | 3–0 | Williams Arena (3,626) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/20/2018* 7:00 pm | No. 23 | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | W 84–42 | 4–0 | Williams Arena (3,007) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/23/2018* 3:00 pm | No. 23 | Cornell | W 65–45 | 5–0 | Williams Arena (4,339) Minneapolis, MN |
| 11/29/2018* 7:30 pm, BTN | No. 20 | No. 12 Syracuse ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | W 72–68 | 6–0 | Williams Arena (4,178) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/02/2018* 3:00 pm | No. 20 | Air Force | W 67–50 | 7–0 | Williams Arena (3,642) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/05/2018* 12:00 pm | No. 14 | Incarnate Word | W 75–39 | 8–0 | Williams Arena (7,835) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/09/2018* 1:00 pm | No. 14 | at Boston College | W 77–69 | 9–0 | Conte Forum (1,417) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| 12/12/2018* 7:00 pm | No. 13 | Coppin State | W 84–52 | 10–0 | Williams Arena (3,583) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/22/2018* 3:00 pm | No. 13 | Rhode Island | W 91–71 | 11–0 | Williams Arena (5,224) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten conference season ||||||
| 12/28/2018 8:00 pm, BTN | No. 12 | Wisconsin | W 74–56 | 12–0 (1–0) | Williams Arena (7,918) Minneapolis, MN |
| 12/31/2018 1:00 pm | No. 12 | at Michigan | L 60–76 | 12–1 (1–1) | Crisler Center (4,506) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 01/06/2019 3:00 pm | No. 12 | Illinois | L 62–66 | 12–2 (1–2) | Williams Arena (6,622) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/09/2019 6:00 pm | No. 18 | at No. 23 Michigan State | L 68–86 | 12–3 (1–3) | Breslin Center (5,018) East Lansing, MI |
| 01/14/2019 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 23 | No. 22 Iowa | L 63–81 | 12–4 (1–4) | Williams Arena (5,439) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/17/2019 7:00 pm | No. 23 | at Wisconsin | W 78–50 | 13–4 (2–4) | Kohl Center (3,137) Madison, WI |
| 01/20/2019 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 23 | at Nebraska | L 57–63 | 13–5 (2–5) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (4,072) Lincoln, NE |
| 01/24/2019 7:00 pm | | Purdue | L 53–64 | 13–6 (2–6) | Williams Arena (5,572) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/28/2019 6:30 pm, BTN | | Ohio State | L 55–65 | 13–7 (2–7) | Williams Arena (3,470) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/31/2019 7:00 pm | | at Northwestern | W 61–54 | 14–7 (3–7) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (606) Evanston, IL |
| 02/03/2019 3:00 pm | | No. 17 Rutgers | W 60–46 | 15–7 (4–7) | Williams Arena (4,888) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/06/2019 6:00 pm | | at Indiana | W 65–61 | 16–7 (5–7) | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (3,398) Bloomington, IN |
| 02/10/2019 1:00 pm, BTN | | Northwestern | W 73–64 | 17–7 (6–7) | Williams Arena (5,475) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/14/2019 5:00 pm, BTN | | at Purdue | W 65–45 | 18–7 (7–7) | Mackey Arena (6,126) West Lafayette, IN |
| 02/17/2019 1:00 pm, BTN | | Penn State | W 97–67 | 19–7 (8–7) | Williams Arena (5,869) Minneapolis, MN |
| 02/21/2019 6:00 pm | | at No. 8 Maryland | L 69–71 | 19–8 (8–8) | Xfinity Center (5,116) College Park, MD |
| 02/28/2019 6:00 pm, BTN | | at Rutgers | L 54–60 | 19–9 (8–9) | Louis Brown Athletic Center (2,852) Piscataway, NJ |
| 03/03/2019 3:00 pm | | Michigan State | W 81–63 | 20–9 (9–9) | Williams Arena (7,707) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| 03/07/2019 5:30 pm, BTN | (7) | vs. (10) Indiana Second Round | L 58–66 | 20–10 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| WNIT ||||||
| 03/22/2019* 6:30 pm | | Northern Iowa First Round | W 91–75 | 21–10 | Williams Arena (2,549) Minneapolis, MN |
| 03/24/2019* 2:00 pm | | at Cincinnati Second Round | L 65–72 | 21–11 | Fifth Third Arena (1,945) Cincinnati, OH |
| *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 |
^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.