# 1979–80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

The 1979–80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Digger Phelps and was ranked in the Associated Press poll for the entirety of the season.

## Preseason

The Irish were ranked fifth in the preseason AP Poll, behind Indiana, Kentucky, Duke and Ohio State. While they lost frontcourt contributors Bruce Flowers and Bill Laimbeer to graduation, they added a recruiting class ranked fourth nationally by the 1979–80 Street & Smith basketball yearbook. The class included McDonald's All-Americans Tim Andree and John Paxson and highly regarded forward Bill Varner. Key returning players were 1979 All-American Kelly Tripucka and future National Basketball Association (NBA) players Tracy Jackson, Bill Hanzlik and Orlando Woolridge. Woolridge was moved from forward to center to replace Flowers and Laimbeer. Senior point guard Rich Branning was selected co-captain of the team with Hanzlik.
Leading up to an Olympic year, Notre Dame played an exhibition game against the Soviet National Team, notching a surprising 86–76 win behind Tripucka's 35 points.

## Regular season

The Irish suffered an early setback as senior co-captain Hanzlik missed several games with a dislocated finger, but fared well, compiling a 6–0 record in his absence, including a marquee win against UCLA. The Irish won the contest behind clutch free throws and defense from freshman John Paxson. After the team's fast start, The Irish found themselves ranked third in the country and facing second-ranked Kentucky at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Despite the Wildcats missing starters Sam Bowie and Dirk Minniefield, the Irish lost the game 80–86. A January loss to San Francisco left the Irish on a two-game losing streak. The highlight of the Irish's season came on February 27, 1980, when they upset top-ranked DePaul 76–74 in double-overtime. The Irish were led by Kelly Tripucka's 28 points and the win was sealed by two free throws by Orlando Woolridge. The Irish were able to overcome a big scoring push by future NBA All-Stars Mark Aguirre (28 points) and Terry Cummings (16). A regular-season finale 62–54 win at Dayton raised the Irish's record to 22–5.

## NCAA tournament

Notre Dame was selected for the 1980 NCAA tournament and were the 4 seed in the Midwest Region, slated to play the winner of a first-round game between Missouri and San Jose State in Lincoln, Nebraska. Fifth-seeded Missouri upset the Irish 87–84 in overtime behind senior Mark Dressler's 32 points, wasting a 29-point effort by Tracy Jackson.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| December 1 | No. 5 | Valparaiso | W 92–66 | 1–0 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 3 | No. 5 | Iowa State | W 87–77 | 2–0 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 5 | No. 4 | at Northwestern | W 73–56 | 3–0 | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois |
| December 8 | No. 4 | Saint Louis | W 93–66 | 4–0 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 11 | No. 4 | No. 7 UCLA | W 77–74 | 5–0 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 13 | No. 4 | No. 7 (Div II) St. Joseph's (IN) | W 79–58 | 6–0 (0-0) | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 22 | No. 4 | Fairfield | W 69–59 | 7–0 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 29 | No. 3 | No. 2 Kentucky | L 80–86 | 7–1 | Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky |
| January 8 | No. 7 | at San Francisco | L 59–67 | 7–2 | War Memorial Gymnasium San Francisco, CA |
| January 10 | No. 7 | at Tulane | W 79–59 | 8–2 | Avron B. Fogelman Arena New Orleans, Louisiana |
| January 13 | No. 7 | at TCU | W 85–68 | 9–2 | Hemisphere Arena San Antonio, Texas |
| January 15 | No. 8 | Villanova | W 70–69 | 10–2 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 19 | No. 8 | at UCLA | W 80–73 | 11–2 | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California |
| January 23 | No. 8 | Canisius | W 84–63 | 12–2 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 26 | No. 8 | No. 15 Maryland | W 64–63 | 13–2 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 30 | No. 8 | at La Salle | W 64–63 | 13–3 | Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| February 2 | No. 8 | Davidson | W 105–71 | 14–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 4 | No. 8 | Navy | W 67–53 | 15–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 6 | No. 9 | Manhattan | W 93–49 | 16–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 9 | No. 9 | North Carolina State | L 55–63 | 16–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 11 | No. 9 | San Francisco | W 78–66 | 17–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 13 | No. 12 | at Fordham | W 86–76 | 18–4 | Rose Hill Gymnasium Bronx, NY |
| February 16 | No. 12 | at South Carolina | W 90–66 | 19–4 | Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC |
| February 20 | No. 10 | at Xavier | W 85–72 | 20–4 | Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, OH |
| February 24 | No. 10 | Marquette | L 74–77 | 20–5 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 27 | No. 14 | No. 1 DePaul | W 76–74 | 21–5 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| March 1 | No. 14 | at Dayton | W 62–54 | 22–5 | UD Arena Dayton, OH |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 8 | (4) No. 9 | vs. (5) No. 16 Missouri NCAA tournament second round | L 84–87 $^{OT}$ | 22–6 | Bob Devaney Sports Center Lincoln, NE |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Players selected in NBA drafts

| Year | Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 1980 | 1 | 20 | Bill Hanzlik | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 1980 | 4 | 78 | Rich Branning | Indiana Pacers |
| 1981 | 1 | 6 | Orlando Woolridge | Chicago Bulls |
| 1981 | 1 | 12 | Kelly Tripucka | Detroit Pistons |
| 1981 | 2 | 25 | Tracy Jackson | Boston Celtics |
| 1981 | 8 | 167 | Gilbert Salinas | Atlanta Hawks |
| 1983 | 1 | 19 | John Paxson | San Antonio Spurs |
| 1983 | 5 | 98 | Tim Andree | Chicago Bulls |
| 1983 | 9 | 202 | Bill Varner | Milwaukee Bucks |