1980–81 LSU Tigers basketball team
| 1980–81 LSU Tigers basketball | |
|---|---|
SEC regular season champions | |
NCAA tournament, Final Four | |
| Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 4 |
| AP | No. 4 |
| Record | 31–5 (17–1 SEC) |
| Head coach |
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| Assistant coaches |
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| Home arena | LSU Assembly Center |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 4 LSU | 17 | – | 1 | .944 | 31 | – | 5 | .861 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 8 Kentucky | 15 | – | 3 | .833 | 22 | – | 6 | .786 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 15 Tennessee | 12 | – | 6 | .667 | 21 | – | 8 | .724 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alabama | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 18 | – | 11 | .621 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 19 | – | 12 | .613 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ole Miss † | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 16 | – | 14 | .533 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vanderbilt | 7 | – | 11 | .389 | 15 | – | 14 | .517 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 12 | – | 16 | .429 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Auburn | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 11 | – | 16 | .407 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mississippi State | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 8 | – | 19 | .296 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 1981 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1980–81 LSU Tigers basketball team represented Louisiana State University as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 1980–81 NCAA men's basketball season. Led by ninth-year head coach Dale Brown, the Fighting Tigers played their home games in the LSU Assembly Center, which would be renamed in memory of Tiger legend Pete Maravich, the NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leader, shortly after his death in 1988.
After a loss to Arkansas in the Great Alaska Shootout, the Tigers won 26 consecutive games, 17 in the SEC, before a loss at Kentucky in the regular season finale. The setback in Lexington prevented LSU from becoming the first team to go 18–0 in conference play since the SEC adopted its double round-robin format in 1966-67.
LSU was surprisingly defeated in the SEC Tournament semifinals by Ole Miss, which won the championship to earn its first trip to the big dance.
As No. 1 seed in the Midwest region for the second consecutive year, the Tigers avenged the early season loss to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen and defeated Wichita State to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1953.
Losses in the Final Four at Philadelphia vs. Indiana and Virginia, the latter in the last third-place game ever contested in an NCAA tournament, took some of the luster off the Tigers' spectacular season, leaving them with a final mark of 31–5.
The Hoosiers defeated North Carolina 63–50 in the championship game, marking the third consecutive year LSU lost in the NCAA Tournament to the eventual national champion (Michigan State in 1979, Louisville in 1980). This coincidence recurred in 1986 (Louisville) and 1987 (Indiana).
Following this season, LSU ended its yearly series vs. in-state rival Tulane. The Tigers and Green Wave faced off 201 times between January 1911 and December 1980, but have met only seven times since.