# 2022–23 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2022–23 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by fifth-year head coach Lindsay Whalen, played their home games at Williams Arena and compete as members of the Big Ten Conference.

## Previous season

The Golden Gophers finished the 2021–2022 season with a 14–17 record 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. They lost in the 2nd Round of the WNIT to the eventual champions, South Dakota State.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Alexia Smith | 1 | G | 5'8" | Sophomore | Columbus, Ohio | Transferred to Virginia |
| Deja Winters | 3 | G | 5'11" | Graduate Student | Cleveland, Ohio | Graduated |
| Jasmine Powell | 4 | G | 5'6" | Junior | Detroit, Michigan | Transferred to Tennessee |
| Erin Hedman | 10 | F | 6'3" | Sophomore | New Berlin, Wisconsin | Transferred to Sacramento State |
| Laura Bagwell Katalinich | 12 | F | 6'0" | Graduate Student | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Graduated |
| Gadiva Hubbard | 13 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Student | Virginia Beach, Virginia | Graduated |
| Sara Scalia | 14 | G | 5'10" | Junior | Stillwater, Minnesota | Transferred to Indiana |
| Kayla Mershon | 15 | F | 6'3" | Senior | Minnetonka, Minnesota | Graduated |
| Caroline Strande | 21 | G | 5'11 | Sophomore | Racine, Wisconsin | Transferred to Butler |
| Klarke Sconiers | 25 | C | 6'2" | Junior | Queens, New York | Transferred to Delaware |
| Kadi Sissoko | 30 | F | 6'2" | Redshirt Junior | Paris, France | Transferred to USC |
| Bailey Helgren | 35 | C | 6'5" | Graduate Student | Edina, Minnesota | Graduated |
| Grace Cumming | 43 | F | 6'3" | Redshirt Sophomore | Des Moines, Iowa | Medically retired from basketball |

### Arrivals

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School | Notes |
| Aminata Zie | 11 | F/C | 6'1" | Redshirt Sophomore | Paris, France | Western Nebraska CC | Previously also played at Stony Brook |
| Destinee Oberg | 13 | C | 6'3" | Senior | Burnsville, Minnesota | Arkansas | |
| Isabelle Gradwell | 14 | G/F | 6'1" | Graduate Student | Marshalltown, Iowa | Cleveland State | |
| Angelina Hammond | 15 | G/F | 5'11" | Graduate Student | Hopkins, Minnesota | Miami Dade College | Previously also played at Siena and Southeastern |
| Mi'Cole Cayton | 21 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Student | Stockton, California | Nebraska | Previously also played at California |

### 2022 Recruiting class

The Gophers signed four players from the state of Minnesota for their 2022 Class. They signed their highest rated recruiting class in program history and were considered to be a top ten class in the nation.
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Mara Braun G | Wayzata, MN | Wayzata High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95 ||||||
| Amaya Battle G | Hopkins, MN | Hopkins High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95 ||||||
| Mallory Heyer F | Chaska, MN | Chaska High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Nia Holloway F | Eden Prairie, MN | Eden Prairie High School | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 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: ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| October 30, 2022* 2:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Wisconsin-River Falls | W 104–64 | | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 7, 2022* 5:30 pm, BTN Plus | | Western Illinois | W 75–45 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (2,242) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 13, 2022* 3:00 pm, BTN Plus | | Lehigh | W 101–99 | 2–0 | Williams Arena (3,724) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 17, 2022* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at North Dakota State | L 65–71 | 2–1 | Scheels Center (1,759) Fargo, ND |
| November 20, 2022* 2:00 pm | | Presbyterian | W 82–48 | 3–1 | Williams Arena (2,505) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 26, 2022* 1:00 pm, ACCNX | | at Virginia Cav Classic | L 70–73 | 3–2 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,871) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 27, 2022* 4:00 pm | | vs. Liberty Cav Classic | W 77–65 | 4–2 | John Paul Jones Arena (236) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 30, 2022* 7:00 pm, BTN | | Wake Forest Big Ten/ACC Challenge | L 59–63 | 4–3 | Williams Arena (2,177) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 3, 2022 5:00/7:30 pm, BTN | | Penn State | W 98–96 $^{2OT}$ | 5–3 (1–0) | Williams Arena (2,852) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 7, 2022* 7:00 pm | | Kentucky | L 74–80 | 5–4 (1–0) | Williams Arena (2,495) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 10, 2022 8:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 16 Iowa | L 64–87 | 5–5 (1–1) | Carver-Hawkeye Arena (8,946) Iowa City, IA |
| December 12, 2022* 7:00 pm | | Chicago State | W 105–54 | 6–5 (1–1) | Williams Arena (2,083) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 14, 2022* 11:00 am | | Milwaukee | W 75–59 | 7–5 (1–1) | Williams Arena (6,291) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 22, 2022* 3:30 pm | | Eastern Illinois | W 59–48 | 8–5 (1–1) | Williams Arena (3,038) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 30, 2022 1:00 pm | | at No. 16 Maryland | L 85–107 | 8–6 (1–2) | Xfinity Center (6,006) College Park, MD |
| January 5, 2023 7:00 pm | | No. 3 Ohio State | L 71–83 | 8–7 (1–3) | Williams Arena (2,410) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 8, 2023 3:00 pm | | at Wisconsin | L 77–81 | 8–8 (1–4) | Kohl Center (3,445) Madison, WI |
| January 12, 2023 7:30 pm, BTN | | Rutgers | L 59–65 | 8–9 (1–5) | Williams Arena (2,238) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 15, 2023 2:00 pm | | No. 24 Illinois | L 57–70 | 8–10 (1–6) | Williams Arena (4,454) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 18, 2023 6:00 pm | | at Penn State | W 75–67 | 9–10 (2–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (2,001) University Park, PA |
| January 21, 2023 2:00 pm | | at Purdue | L 56–75 | 9–11 (2–7) | Mackey Arena (5,003) West Lafayette, IN |
| January 29, 2023 2:00 pm | | No. 13 Michigan | L 41–77 | 9–12 (2–8) | Williams Arena (4,545) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 1, 2023 7:00 pm | | No. 4 Indiana | L 54–77 | 9–13 (2–9) | Williams Arena (4,129) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 5, 2023 2:00 pm | | at Illinois | L 62–69 | 9–14 (2–10) | State Farm Center (4,533) Champaign, IL |
| February 8, 2023 6:00 pm | | at No. 13 Ohio State | L 63–93 | 9–15 (2–11) | Value City Arena (4,357) Columbus, OH |
| February 11, 2023 3:00 pm | | Wisconsin | L 70–76 | 9–16 (2–12) | Williams Arena (4,538) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 15, 2023 7:00 pm | | Nebraska | W 95–92 | 10–16 (3–12) | Williams Arena (3,268) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 18, 2023 2:00 p.m. | | at Northwestern | L 62–76 | 10–17 (3–13) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (1,582) Evanston, IL |
| February 22, 2023 4:30 pm | | at Michigan State | L 67–71 | 10–18 (3–14) | Breslin Center (2,392) East Lansing, MI |
| February 26, 2023 2:00 pm | | Purdue | W 77–69 | 11–18 (4–14) | Williams Arena (4,014) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten Tournament ||||||
| March 1, 2023 1:00 pm, BTN | (12) | vs. (13) Penn State First round | L 67–72 | 11–19 | Target Center (4,890) Minneapolis, MN |
| *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 |