The 2026–27 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team will represent the University of Minnesota during the 2026–27 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by fourth-year head coach Dawn Plitzuweit, will play their home games at The Barn in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and compete as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

Previous season

The Golden Gophers finished the 2025–26 season 24–9 overall and 13–5 in Big Ten play, to finish fourth in the conference, their highest finish since the 2017–18 season. As the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they earned a bye to the quarterfinals, where they lost to No. 5 Ohio State.

Following the Big Ten tournament elimination, the Golden Gophers received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018, seeded No. 4 seed in the Sacramento #2 Regional. They defeated No. 13 Green Bay in the first round, before defeating No. 5 Ole Miss 65–63 in the second round with a game-winning two-point shot by senior guard Amaya Battle. The Golden Gophers advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2005, where they lost to fellow Big Ten member and eventual NCAA champions in top-seeded UCLA.

Offseason Departures Minnesota departures Tracey Bershers 1 Forward 6'2" Senior Fort Smith, AR Graduated, transferred to Kennesaw State Amaya Battle 3 Guard 5'11" Senior Hopkins, MN Graduated; signed to play professionally in Italy with Logiman Broni Brylee Glenn 12 Guard 5'10" Graduate student Kansas City, MO Graduated Finau Tonga 31 Forward 6'2" Graduate student Taylorsville, UT Graduated Niamya Holloway 41 Forward 6'0" Junior Eden Prairie, MN Transferred to Creighton Sophie Hart 52 Center 6'5" Graduate student Farmington, MN Graduated

Incoming transfers Minnesota incoming transfers Tayla Thomas 0 Forward 6'3" Junior East Orange, NJ Northwestern Leah Harmon 6 Guard 5'6" Junior Paterson, NJ UCF Gracie Merkle 44 C 6' 6" 5th Year Mount Washington, KY Penn State

Recruiting class

Roster Years are listed according to the new NCAA age-based eligibility model.

Schedule and results

! colspan=9 style=""| Regular season

Source:

Rankings

References