Gophers women’s basketball announces 2022-23 schedule

Lindsay Whalen talks Gophers basketball at State Fair

Lindsay Whalen and the University of Minnesota women's basketball team visited the State Fair on Wednesday.

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women’s basketball team will open the 2022-23 regular season on Nov. 30 against Western Illinois at Williams Arena, the team announced Wednesday.

Lindsay Whalen opens her fifth season as the Gophers’ head coach, and 17 of Minnesota’s 29 games will be at home. The Gophers will host UW-River Falls in an exhibition on Oct. 30 before the real season starts one week later. After hosting Western Illinois, the Gophers host Lehigh on Nov. 13 before going on the road to face North Dakota State on Nov. 17.

Gophers welcome highly-touted freshman class on first day of summer workouts

The Gophers women's basketball team, led by a top-10 freshmen class, started summer workouts on Monday at Athletes Village.

The Gophers will open Big Ten play on Dec. 3 against Penn State at Williams Arena. They follow that with hosting Kentucky on Dec. 7. Minnesota also plays its second December Big Ten game at Iowa, the defending league champion, on Dec. 10.

The Gophers will wrap up the non-conference slate against Chicago State Dec. 12, UW-Milwaukee Dec. 14 and Eastern Illinois on Dec. 22, all games at Williams Arena.

Minnesota resumes Big Ten play at Maryland on Dec. 30. It’s one of eight games for the Gophers this year against teams that were in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

The Gophers will host Purdue in their regular season finale on Feb. 26 at Williams Arena, before Target Center hosts the Big Ten Tournament from March 1-5. Whalen is 60-57 in four full seasons at Minnesota, including 28-44 in Big Ten play.

The 2022-23 roster is highlighted by the team’s highest-ranked recruiting class in program history, led by Amaya Battle of Hopkins, Mara Braun of Wayzata and Mallory Heyer of Chaska. Nia Holloway of Eden Prairie is also a talented freshman, but is out for the season with a knee injury. The Gophers also brought in five transfers, coming off a 15-18 season in 2021-22.