2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team
Intercollegiate basketball season
The 2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season . The Cardinals, were led by 14th-year head coach Jeff Walz , and played their home games at the KFC Yum! Center in their seventh year in the Atlantic Coast Conference . On January 18, 2021, following a 12–0 start, the Cardinals were ranked number 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in program history, garnering 20 of 29 first place votes.[1]
The Cardinals finished the season 26–4 and 14–2 in ACC play to finish in first place. In the ACC tournament , they defeated Wake Forest in the Quarterfinals and Syracuse before losing in the Final NC State . They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the two seed in the Alamo Regional . In the tournament they defeated fifteen seed Marist in the First Round, seven seed Northwestern in the Second Round, and six seed Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen before losing to one seed and eventual champions Stanford in the Elite Eight to end their season.
Previous season
The Cardinals finished the 2019–20 season at 28–4 and 16–2 in ACC play . They finished as the regular season ACC champions and earned the first seed in the ACC tournament . They defeated Syracuse in the Quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions NC State in the Semifinals. The NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak .[2]
Off-season
Departures
Incoming transfers
Recruiting class
Source:[3]
Roster
2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Pos.
#
Name
Height
Year
Previous school
Hometown
F
0
Ramani Parker
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
RS Fr
Montverde Academy
Fresno, CA
G
1
Dana Evans
5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Sr
West Side Leadership Academy
Gary, IN
G
2
Ahlana Smith
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Jr
Mallard Creek Gulf Coast State
Charlotte, NC
F
3
Malea Williams
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Fr
Scott County
Georgetown, KY
G
4
Elizabeth Balogun
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Jr
Hamilton Heights Christian AcademyGeorgia Tech
Chattanooga, TN
G
5
Mykasa Robinson
5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Jr
Ashland Blazer
Ashland, KY
G
10
Hailey Van Lith
5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Fr
Cashmere
Wenatchee, WA
G
11
Norika Konno
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
So
Seiwa Gakuen
Sendai, Japan
G
13
Merissah Russell
5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)
Fr
Cairine Wilson
Ottawa, Ontario
G
14
Kianna Smith
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
RS Jr
Troy California
Moreno Valley, CA
F
22
Elizabeth Dixon
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Jr
Ridgeway Georgia Tech
Memphis, TN
F
44
Olivia Cochran
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Fr
Carver
Columbus, GA
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
Roster Last update: April 16, 2021
Schedule and results
Source[4]
Date time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference Regular season
November 25, 2020 *3:00 p.m., ESPN+
No. 5
at Southeast Missouri
W 74–53
1–0
Show Me Center (475)Cape Girardeau, MO
November 29, 2020 *1:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 5
Eastern Kentucky
W 101–58
2–0
KFC Yum! Center (2,614)Louisville, KY
December 4, 2020 *6:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 5
vs. No. 20 DePaul Jimmy V Classic
W 116–75
3–0
Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT
December 6, 2020 *2:00 p.m.
No. 5
UT Martin
W 85–67
4–0
KFC Yum! Center (2,709)Louisville, KY
ACC Regular season
December 9, 2020 7:00 p.m., RSN
No. 2
at Duke
W 73–49
5–0 (1–0)
Cameron Indoor Stadium (0)Durham, NC
December 13, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 2
North Carolina
Postponed [5]
KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
December 17, 2020 8:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 2
Florida State
Postponed [6]
KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
December 20, 2020 1:00 p.m., RSN
No. 2
Miami (FL)
Postponed [7]
KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 1, 2020 3:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 2
Northern Kentucky
W 74–64
6–0
KFC Yum! Center (0)Louisville, KY
January 2, 2020 Noon, ACCNX
No. 2
Bellarmine
W 97–46
7–0
KFC Yum! Center (2,718)Louisville, KY
January 3, 2021 Noon, ACCN
No. 2
at Virginia
Postponed
John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA
January 5, 2021 2:30 p.m., ACCN
No. 2
North Carolina
Postponed
KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 5, 2021 2:30 p.m., ACCN
No. 2
UT Martin
W 96–61
8–0
KFC Yum! Center (2,754)Louisville, KY
January 7, 2021 6:30 p.m., RSN
No. 2
Pittsburgh
Postponed
KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 7, 2021 8:00 p.m., RSN
No. 2
at Virginia Tech
W 71–67
9–0 (2–0)
Cassell Coliseum (250)Blacksburg, VA
January 10, 2021 Noon, ACCN
No. 2
at Florida State
Postponed
Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL
January 10, 2021 Noon, ACCN
No. 2
Clemson
W 70–45
10–0 (3–0)
KFC Yum! Center (2,734)Louisville, KY
January 14, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 2
Boston College
W 89–70
11–0 (4–0)
KFC Yum! Center (2,604)Louisville, KY
January 17, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN
No. 2
No. 3 NC State
Postponed [8]
KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 17, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN
No. 2
Florida State
W 84–56
12–0 (5–0)
KFC Yum! Center (2,804)Louisville, KY
January 21, 2021 9:00 p.m., ESPN2
No. 1
No. 23 Syracuse
W 67–54
13–0 (6–0)
KFC Yum! Center (2,643)Louisville, KY
January 24, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 1
at Wake Forest
W 65–63
14–0 (7–0)
LJVM Coliseum (0)Winston-Salem, NC
January 26, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 1
Miami (FL)
W 79–76
15–0 (8–0)
KFC Yum! Center (2,653)Louisville, KY
January 28, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 1
North Carolina
W 79–68
16–0 (9–0)
KFC Yum! Center (2,748)Louisville, KY
February 1, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN2
No. 1
No. 4 NC State
L 60–74
16–1 (9–1)
KFC Yum! Center (2,989)Louisville, KY
February 4, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 1
at Boston College
W 97–68
17–1 (10–1)
Conte Forum (0)Chestnut Hill, MA
February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPN
No. 1
Notre Dame
W 71–65
18–1 (11–1)
KFC Yum! Center (2,912)Louisville, KY
February 11, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 3
Georgia Tech
W 85–70
19–1 (12–1)
KFC Yum! Center (2,914)Louisville, KY
February 14, 2021 1:00 p.m., ESPN2
No. 3
at Syracuse
Postponed [9]
Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY
February 18, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 3
at Pittsburgh
W 82–58
20–1 (13–1)
Peterson Events Center (500)Pittsburgh, PA
February 21, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 3
at Florida State
L 59–68
20–2 (13–2)
Donald L. Tucker Center (1,258)Tallahassee, FL
February 28, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN
No. 6
at Notre Dame
W 78–61
21–2 (14–2)
Purcell Pavilion (126)Notre Dame, IN
ACC Women's Tournament
March 5, 2021 Noon, RSN
(1) No. 5
vs. (9) Wake Forest Quarterfinals
W 65–53
22–2
Greensboro Coliseum (592)Greensboro, NC
March 6, 2021 Noon, ACCN
(1) No. 5
vs. (5) Syracuse Semifinals
W 72–59
23–2
Greensboro Coliseum (1,122)Greensboro, NC
March 7, 2021 Noon, ESPN2
(1) No. 5
vs. (2) No. 3 NC State Final
L 56–58
23–3
Greensboro Coliseum (2,063)Greensboro, NC
NCAA tournament
March 22, 2021 8:00 p.m., ESPN
(2 A) No. 8
vs. (15 A) Marist First Round
W 74–43
24–3
Alamodome San Antonio, TX
March 24, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN2
(2 A) No. 8
vs. (7 A) Northwestern Second Round
W 62–53
25–3
Alamodome San Antonio, TX
March 28, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN
(2 A) No. 8
vs. (6 A) No. 23 Oregon Sweet Sixteen
W 60–42
26–3
Alamodome San Antonio, TX
March 30, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN
(2 A) No. 8
vs. (1 A) No. 2 Stanford Elite Eight
L 63–78
26–4
Alamodome (1,463)San Antonio, TX
*Non-conference game.
# Rankings from
AP Poll . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
A=Alamo.
All times are in
Eastern .
Rankings
Regular season ranking movementLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Received votes. т=Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
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
5
5
2 (2 )
2 (1 )
2 (1 )
2 (1 )
2
2
1 (20 )[A]
1 (20 )
1 (26 )
3
3
6
5
7т
8
Coaches
5
2 (6 )
2 (6 )
2 (1 )
2 (1 )
2 (1 )
2 (1 )
1 (30 )
1 (30 )
3 (5 )
2 (11 )
2 (8 )
5
5
7
7
6
Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.
A This is the first time Louisville has been ranked number 1 in the AP Women's Basketball Poll in program history.[1]
References
^ a b "Louisville No. 1 in AP women's poll for 1st time" . ESPN.com . ESPN. January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021 .
^ "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships" . Archived from the original on March 12, 2020.
^ "Louisville Cardinals" . espn.com . ESPN. Retrieved December 2, 2020 .
^ "2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball schedule" . Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved December 2, 2020 .
^ "North Carolina at Louisville Women's Basketball Game Postponed" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020 .
^ "UofL Women's Basketball Game vs. Florida State Postponed" . gocards.com . Louisville University Athletics. December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020 .
^ "UofL Women's Basketball Game vs. Miami Postponed" . gocards.com . Louisville University Athletics. December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020 .
^ "ACC Women's Basketball Announces Schedule Changes" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. January 13, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021 .
^ "ACC Announces Women's Basketball Postponements" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021 .
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons NCAA Final Four appearance in italics