The 2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represented

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November 2020 and ended with the championship game of the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 4, 2021. Practices offi ...

. The Wildcats were led by 13th-year head coach

Joe McKeown Joseph L. McKeown pronounced Mick-Q-ann (born May 12, 1956), is the head women's basketball coach at Northwestern University. Career He has 600 wins as of November 21, 2014. He won the Atlantic 10 Conference's coach of the year award a record 5 ...

. They played their home games at

Welsh–Ryan Arena Welsh–Ryan Arena is a 7,039-seat multi-purpose arena in Evanston, Illinois, United States, near the campus of Northwestern University. It is home to four Northwestern Wildcats athletic teams: men's basketball, women's basketball, women's volle ...

as members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. They finished the season 16–9, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place. They received a bye into the Second Round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they defeated

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

before losing to eventual champions

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the Semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the seven seed in the Alamo Regional they defeated ten seed in the First Round before losing to two seed Louisville in the Second Round to end their season.

Previous season

The Wildcats finished 26–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to finish tied for first place. As the second seed in the Big Ten women's tournament they received a double-bye into the Quarterfinals where they lost to

. They did not get a chance for further post season play, as the NCAA women's basketball tournament and WNIT were cancelled before they began due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Roster

Schedule and results

Source: , - !colspan=6 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=6 style= , Big Ten Women's Tournament , - !colspan=6 style= , NCAA tournament

Rankings

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball seasons Northwestern Northwestern Northwestern Northwestern

Previous season

Roster

Schedule and results

Rankings

See also

References