Pac-12 Announces Weekly Matchups For 2020-21
SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 Conference has announced the weekly matchups and site designations for the league's 22-game women's basketball schedule in 2020-21.
The announcement reflects the games being played and the home/away designations each week of the Pac-12 regular season. Specific dates and times for each game within a week will be announced after selections by the league's television partners are finalized.
The Huskies will start Pac-12 play in the Bay Area at California and Stanford from Dec. 4-7 and begin their home portion of the schedule Dec. 10-14 by hosting Washington State for a single game.
After hosting the Cougars, Oregon and Oregon State will visit Alaska Airlines Arena, Dec. 18-21.
Washington is also designated to play at home Jan. 8-11 (Arizona/Arizona State), Jan. 29-Feb. 1 (California/Stanford), Feb. 5-8 (UCLA/USC) and Feb. 19-22 (Colorado/Utah).
The Huskies will be on the road Jan. 1-4 (at Colorado/Utah), Jan. 14-18 (at UCLA/USC), Jan. 22-25 (at Oregon/Oregon State) and Feb. 12-15 (at Arizona/Arizona State) before concluding the season in Pullman against Washington State (Feb. 26-March 1).
The Pac-12 is the top-rated conference by RPI in three of the last five seasons, including the 2019-20, and is once again poised to be among the nation's best in women's basketball. Four teams are ranked in the Associated Press preseason Top-10 – Stanford (2nd), Arizona (7th), UCLA (9th) and Oregon (10th) – and a fifth program is ranked within the Top-20 teams – Oregon State (18th).
The Huskies have yet to finalize their non-conference schedule but will open the season on the road at a neutral site, Nov. 27-29.
Conference play in 2020-21 will transition to a 22-game, double-round robin schedule in an effort to maintain the most control over scheduling and environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The season is slated to span 12 weeks from Dec. 4, 2020 to March 1, 2021 with the 2021 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament scheduled for March 4-7 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
All basketball competitions will be conducted in accordance with the Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee health and safety recommendations and guidelines, as previously announced on September 24 when the Pac-12 CEO Group voted to resume football, basketball and winter sport seasons.