2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by third-year head coach Lindsay Whalen, played their home games at Williams Arena and were members of the Big Ten Conference.

2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record8–13 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Home arenaWilliams Arena
Seasons
2020–21 Big Ten women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 7 Maryland 17 1   .944 26 2   .929
No. 12 Indiana 16 2   .889 20 5   .800
No. 21 Rutgers 10 3   .769 14 5   .737
No. 16 Michigan 9 4   .692 16 6   .727
Northwestern 11 7   .611 16 9   .640
Iowa 11 8   .579 20 9   .690
No. 22 Ohio State 9 7   .563 13 7   .650
Michigan State 8 7   .533 15 9   .625
Nebraska 9 10   .474 13 13   .500
Minnesota 7 11   .389 8 13   .381
Penn State 6 13   .316 9 15   .375
Purdue 4 14   .222 7 16   .304
Illinois 2 16   .111 5 18   .217
Wisconsin 2 18   .100 5 19   .208
2021 Big Ten tournament winner
As of March 27, 2021
Rankings from AP poll

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.

Previous season

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The Golden Gophers finished the season 16–15 and 5–12 in Big Ten play, to finish in eleventh place. As the eleven seed in the Big Ten tournament, they defeated Penn State in the first round, before falling to Ohio State in the second round. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[1]

Roster

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2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
G 1 Alexia Smith 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Fr Columbus Africentric Columbus, OH
G 4 Jasmine Powell 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) So Detroit Country Day Detroit, MI
F 10 Erin Hedman 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Fr Eisenhower New Berlin, WI
F 12 Laura Bagwell Katalinich 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) GS Academy of the Holy Angels
Cornell
Minneapolis, MN
G 14 Sara Scalia 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So Stillwater HS Stillwater, MN
F 15 Kayla Mershon 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Jr Minnetonka
Nebraska
Chanhassen, MN
G 21 Carolina Strande 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr Racine Lutheran Racine, WI
G 23 Katie Borowicz 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Roseau Roseau, MN
F 24 Justice Ross 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) RS Fr Des Moines East HS Des Moines, IA
C 25 Klarke Sconiers 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So Christ the King HS Queens, NY
F 30 Kadi Sissoko 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) RS So Lycée Marcelin Berthelot
Syracuse
Paris, France
G 34 Gadiva Hubbard 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) RS Sr Princess Anne HS Virginia Beach, VA
F 43 Grace Cumming 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) RS Fr Des Moines Roosevelt HS Des Moines, IA
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: June 29, 2021

Schedule and results

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Source:[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-conference regular season
December 2, 2020*
2:00 p.m., BTN+
Eastern Illinois W 72–68  1–0
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
December 6, 2020*
2:00 p.m., BTN+
Drake L 66–99  1–1
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
Big Ten Conference season
December 9, 2020
8:00 p.m., BTN
Michigan State L 66–81  1–2
(0–1)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
December 14, 2020
8:00 p.m., BTN
at No. 16 Northwestern L 51–80  1–3
(0–2)
Welsh–Ryan Arena (0)
Evanston, IL
December 23, 2020
1:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 19 Indiana L 54–75  1–4
(0–3)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
January 3, 2021
2:00 p.m., BTN+
at Wisconsin W 88–83 OT 2–4
(1–3)
Kohl Center (0)
Madison, WI
January 6, 2021
6:00 p.m., BTN+
at Iowa L 79–92  2–5
(1–4)
Carver–Hawkeye Arena (296)
Iowa City, IA
January 10, 2021
4:00 p.m., BTN+
Penn State L 60–69  2–6
(1–5)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
January 14, 2021
5:00 p.m., BTN
No. 9 Maryland L 73–90  2–7
(1–6)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
January 19, 2021
3:00 p.m., BTN
at Nebraska W 76–71  3–7
(2–6)
Pinnacle Bank Arena (0)
Lincoln, NE
January 25, 2021
5:00 p.m., BTN
at Penn State W 85–76  4–7
(3–6)
Bryce Jordan Center (180)
University Park, PA
January 28, 2021
4:00 p.m., BTN+
Purdue W 77–72  5–7
(4–6)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
January 31, 2021
4:00 p.m., BTN+
Iowa L 68–94  5–8
(4–7)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
February 4, 2021
5:00 p.m., BTN
at No. 13 Michigan Canceled Crisler Center 
Ann Arbor, MI
February 7, 2021
Noon, BTN+
at No. 11 Ohio State L 59–83  5–9
(4–8)
Value City Arena (58)
Columbus, OH
February 10, 2021
6:00 p.m., BTN+
Illinois W 83–73  6–9
(5–8)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
February 14, 2021
1:00 p.m., BTN+
Wisconsin W 68–63  7–9
(6–8)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
February 17, 2021
6:00 p.m., BTN+
at Rutgers L 56–83  7–10
(6–9)
Louis Brown Athletic Center (0)
Piscataway, NJ
February 20, 2021
11:00 a.m., BTN+
at No. 9 Maryland L 62–94  7–11
(6–10)
Xfinity Center (0)
College Park, MD
February 24, 2021
6:00 p.m., BTN+
Nebraska W 73–63  8–11
(7–10)
Williams Arena (0)
Minneapolis, MN
February 28, 2021
1:30 p.m.
No. 12 Michigan Canceled Williams Arena 
Minneapolis, MN
March 5, 2021
4:00 p.m., BTN+
at Illinois L 64–72  8–12
(7–11)
State Farm Center (0)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten women's tournament
March 10, 2021
10:00 a.m., BTN
(9) vs. (8) Nebraska
Second round
L 61–72  8–13
Bankers Life Fieldhouse (716)
Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central.

Rankings

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Regular-season polls
Poll Pre-
Season
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
13
Week
14
Week
15
Week
16
Final
AP
Coaches
Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
(RV)   Received votes
(NR)   Not ranked and did not receive votes

The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP poll did not release a poll after the NCAA tournament.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships". ncaa.org. March 12, 2020. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020.
  2. ^ "2020-21 Women's Basketball Schedule". University of Minnesota Athletics. Retrieved June 29, 2021.