# 2016–17 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team

The 2016–17 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini, led by fifth-year head coach Matt Bollant, played their home games at the State Farm Center as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 9–22, 3–13 in Big Ten play to finish in a four-way for 11th place. They advanced to the second round of the Big Ten women's tournament by beating Wisconsin before they lost to Purdue.
On March 14, 2017, head coach Matt Bollant was fired. He finished at Illinois with a five-year record of 61–94. On March 22, the school hired five-time Division III national champion and two-time Division III coach of the year recipient Nancy Fahey as head coach.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/06/2016* 2:00 pm | | Drury | L 60–66 | | State Farm Center Champaign, IL |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 11:00 am | | Marshall | L 53–55 | 0–1 | State Farm Center (969) Champaign, IL |
| 11/13/2016* 12:00 pm | | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | W 70–58 | 1–1 | State Farm Center (1,180) Champaign, IL |
| 11/17/2016* 12:00 pm | | Memphis | L 54–64 | 1–2 | State Farm Center (2,358) Champaign, IL |
| 11/20/2016* 12:00 pm | | USC Upstate | W 77–57 | 2–2 | State Farm Center (1,133) Champaign, IL |
| 11/22/2016* 7:00 pm | | Mercer | L 33–51 | 2–3 | State Farm Center (1,051) Champaign, IL |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm | | Wake Forest ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 70–79 | 2–4 | State Farm Center (1,243) Champaign, IL |
| 12/02/2016* 7:00 pm | | IPFW | W 56–33 | 3–4 | State Farm Center (1,173) Champaign, IL |
| 12/04/2016* 1:00 pm | | at George Washington | L 56–72 | 3–5 | Charles E. Smith Center (466) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/07/2016* 6:00 pm | | at South Dakota | L 68–77 | 3–6 | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (1,262) Vermillion, SD |
| 12/11/2016* 2:00 pm | | Wright State | W 76–72 | 4–6 | State Farm Center (1,238) Champaign, IL |
| 12/17/2017* 2:00 pm | | Florida Gulf Coast | W 82–73 | 5–6 | State Farm Center (1,051) Champaign, IL |
| 12/19/2016* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Central Michigan | L 52–81 | 5–7 | McGuirk Arena (1,389) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| 12/22/2016* 6:00 pm | | at Ohio | L 68–80 | 5–8 | Convocation Center (1,211) Athens, OH |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 12/28/2016 3:00 pm, BTN | | Iowa | W 70–65 | 6–8 (1–0) | State Farm Center (1,584) Champaign, IL |
| 01/01/2017 2:00 pm | | at Michigan State | L 47–71 | 6–9 (1–1) | Breslin Center (5,757) East Lansing, MI |
| 01/07/2017 3:00 pm, BTN | | Rutgers | W 78–41 | 7–9 (2–1) | State Farm Center (1,482) Champaign, IL |
| 01/11/2017 7:00 pm | | at Iowa | L 58–78 | 7–10 (2–2) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (3,834) Iowa City, IA |
| 01/15/2017 2:00 pm | | Nebraska | W 79–59 | 8–10 (3–2) | State Farm Center (2,675) Champaign, IL |
| 01/18/2017 7:00 pm | | at Minnesota | L 50–78 | 8–11 (3–3) | Williams Arena (3,009) Minneapolis, MN |
| 01/22/2017 4:00 pm | | at No. 16 Ohio State | L 64–88 | 8–12 (3–4) | Value City Arena (5,694) Columbus, OH |
| 01/26/2017 7:00 pm | | No. 3 Maryland | L 49–94 | 8–13 (3–5) | State Farm Center (1,126) Champaign, IL |
| 01/29/2017 1:00 pm | | at Penn State | L 66–82 | 8–14 (3–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (3,570) University Park, MD |
| 02/01/2017 7:00 pm | | Michigan | L 70–86 | 8–15 (3–7) | State Farm Center (1,156) Champaign, IL |
| 02/05/2017 2:00 pm | | Purdue | L 64–72 | 8–16 (3–8) | State Farm Center (1,889) Champaign, IL |
| 02/09/2017 6:00 pm | | at No. 3 Maryland | L 59–84 | 8–17 (3–9) | Xfinity Center (4,160) College Park, MD |
| 02/14/2017 7:00 pm | | Penn State | L 62–80 | 8–18 (3–10) | State Farm Center (1,288) Champaign, IL |
| 02/19/2017 2:00 pm | | at Northwestern | L 53–66 | 8–19 (3–11) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (2,233) Evanston, IL |
| 02/22/2017 7:00 pm | | at Wisconsin | L 55–59 | 8–20 (3–12) | Kohl Center (3,255) Madison, WI |
| 02/25/2017 12:00 pm, BTN | | Indiana | L 60–74 | 8–21 (3–13) | State Farm Center (2,550) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| 03/01/2017 12:30 pm, BTN | (12) | vs. (13) Nebraska First Round | W 79–70 | 9–21 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (4,830) Indianapolis, IN |
| 03/02/2017 1:30 pm, BTN | (12) | vs. (5) Purdue Second Round | L 58–72 | 9–22 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (3,570) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||