# 1980–81 LSU Tigers basketball team

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.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 28, 1980* | No. 12 | vs. Colgate Great Alaska Shootout | W 79–61 | 1–0 | Buckner Fieldhouse Fort Richardson, Alaska |
| Nov 29, 1980* | No. 12 | vs. No. 20 Arkansas Great Alaska Shootout | L 76–86 | 1–1 | Buckner Fieldhouse Fort Richardson, Alaska |
| Nov 30, 1980* | No. 12 | vs. No. 16 Georgetown Great Alaska Shootout | W 76–67 | 2–1 | Buckner Fieldhouse (2,000) Fort Richardson, Alaska |
| Dec 6, 1980* | No. 15 | Tulane | W 119–81 | 3–1 | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Dec 13, 1980* | No. 11 | Nevada-Las Vegas | W 87–73 | 4–1 | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Dec 18, 1980* | No. 10 | at New Orleans | W 96–66 | 5–1 | Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Dec 20, 1980* | No. 10 | at Tulane | W 86–72 | 6–1 | Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Dec 22, 1980* | No. 10 | Xavier | W 78–62 | 7–1 | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Dec 29, 1980* | No. 10 | North Carolina-Wilmington | W 100–68 | 8–1 | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Dec 30, 1980* | No. 10 | Saint Francis (PA) | W 91–65 | 9–1 | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Jan 3, 1981 | No. 10 | at Florida | W 92–66 | 10–1 (1–0) | Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida |
| Jan 7, 1981 | No. 9 | Vanderbilt | W 77–61 | 11–1 (2–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Jan 10, 1981 | No. 9 | at Mississippi State | W 81–69 | 12–1 (3–0) | Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi |
| Jan 14, 1981 | No. 6 | at Alabama | W 59–56 | 13–1 (4–0) | Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
| Jan 17, 1981 | No. 6 | Georgia | W 78–65 | 14–1 (5–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Jan 19, 1981 | No. 5 | No. 6 Kentucky | W 81–67 | 15–1 (6–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Jan 21, 1981 | No. 5 | at Auburn | W 74–64 | 16–1 (7–0) | Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Auburn, Alabama |
| Jan 24, 1981 | No. 5 | No. 8 Tennessee | W 80–63 | 17–1 (8–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Jan 28, 1981 | No. 4 | at Ole Miss | W 63–59 | 18–1 (9–0) | Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, Mississippi |
| Jan 31, 1981 | No. 4 | Florida | W 92–75 | 19–1 (10–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Feb 4, 1981 | No. 4 | at Vanderbilt | W 86–81 | 20–1 (11–0) | Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee |
| Feb 7, 1981 | No. 4 | Mississippi State | W 94–89 | 21–1 (12–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Feb 11, 1981 | No. 4 | Alabama | W 70–57 | 22–1 (13–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Feb 14, 1981 | No. 4 | at Georgia | W 64–62 | 23–1 (14–0) | Georgia Coliseum Athens, Georgia |
| Feb 18, 1981 | No. 4 | Auburn | W 58–47 | 24–1 (15–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Feb 21, 1981 | No. 4 | at No. 8 Tennessee | W 66–65 | 25–1 (16–0) | Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Feb 22, 1981* | No. 4 | Texas A&M | W 67–57 | 26–1 | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Feb 25, 1981 | No. 2 | Ole Miss | W 74–67 | 27–1 (17–0) | LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Mar 1, 1981 NBC | No. 2 | at No. 9 Kentucky | L 71–73 | 27–2 (17–1) | Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky |
| SEC Tournament ||||||
| Mar 5, 1981* | (1) No. 3 | vs. (8) Florida Quarterfinals | W 85–73 | 28–2 | Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama |
| Mar 6, 1981* | (1) No. 3 | vs. (5) Georgia Semifinals | L 60–68 | 28–3 | Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| Mar 14, 1981* | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (8 MW) Lamar Second round | W 100–78 | 29–3 | Frank Erwin Center Austin, Texas |
| Mar 20, 1981* 9:05 p.m. | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (5 MW) No. 20 Arkansas Midwest Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen | W 72–56 | 30–3 | Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Mar 22, 1981* 2:05 p.m. | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (6 MW) Wichita State Midwest Regional Final – Elite Eight | W 96–85 | 31–3 | Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Mar 28, 1981* 12:45 p.m. | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (3 ME) No. 9 Indiana National semifinal – Final Four | L 49–67 | 31–4 | The Spectrum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Mar 30, 1981* 5 p.m. | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (1 E) No. 5 Virginia Third-place game | L 74–78 | 31–5 | The Spectrum (18,276) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | 12 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Coaches | 13 | 13^ | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
^Coaches did not release a week-1 poll.