1980–81 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

1980–81 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball

NCAA tournament, Runner-up ACC tournament champions
National Championship Game, L 50-63 vs. Indiana
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 6
Record	29–8 (10–4 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (20th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (14th season) Eddie Fogler (10th season) Roy Williams (3rd season)
Home arena	Carmichael Auditorium
Seasons ← 1979–80 1981–82 →

1980–81 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No.5Virginia	13	–	1	.929	29	–	4	.879
No.6North Carolina †	10	–	4	.714	29	–	8	.784
No.11Wake Forest	9	–	5	.643	22	–	7	.759
No.18Maryland	8	–	6	.571	21	–	10	.677
Duke	6	–	8	.429	17	–	13	.567
Clemson	6	–	8	.429	20	–	11	.645
NC State	4	–	10	.286	14	–	13	.519
Georgia Tech	0	–	14	.000	4	–	23	.148

† 1981 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	43	Jeb Barlow	6ft7in (2.01 m)	207 lb (94 kg)	Jr	Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina
G	21	Jimmy Black	6ft2in (1.88 m)	157 lb (71 kg)	Jr	Bronx, New York
G	24	Jim Braddock	6ft1in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	So	Chattanooga, Tennessee
C	45	Chris Brust	6ft8in (2.03 m)	218 lb (99 kg)	Jr	Babylon, New York
C	34	Pete Budko	6ft9in (2.06 m)	226 lb (103 kg)	Sr	Lutherville, Maryland
F	44	Matt Doherty	6ft7in (2.01 m)	208 lb (94 kg)	Fr	East Meadow, New York
G	50	Cecil Exum	6ft5in (1.96 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	Fr	Dudley, North Carolina
F	32	Eric Kenny	6ft6in (1.98 m)	216 lb (98 kg)	Sr	Asheville, North Carolina
C	51	Timo Makkonen	6ft11in (2.11 m)	203 lb (92 kg)	Fr	Lahti, Finland
G	11	Mike Pepper	6ft3in (1.91 m)	184 lb (83 kg)	Sr	Vienna, Virginia
C	41	Sam Perkins	6ft9in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Fr	Latham, New York
G	33	Dean Shaffer	6ft4in (1.93 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Durham, North Carolina
F	30	Al Wood	6ft6in (1.98 m)	193 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Gray, Georgia
F	52	James Worthy	6ft9in (2.06 m)	224 lb (102 kg)	So	Gastonia, North Carolina

Head coach

Dean Smith (Kansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[1]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 28, 1980*	No. 13	at Alaska Anchorage Great Alaska Shootout	W 69–50	1–0	Buckner Fieldhouse Anchorage, Alaska
Nov 29, 1980*	No. 13	vs. No. 16 Georgetown Great Alaska Shootout	W 83–71	2–0	Buckner Fieldhouse Anchorage, Alaska
Nov 30, 1980*	No. 13	vs. No. 20 Arkansas Great Alaska Shootout	W 64–58	3–0	Buckner Fieldhouse Anchorage, Alaska
Dec 2, 1980*	No. 10	Mercer	W 89–74	4–0	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 5, 1980*	No. 10	vs. Duke	W 78–76	5–0	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 6, 1980*	No. 10	vs. Wake Forest	L 71–82	5–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 13, 1980*		South Florida	W 73–64	6–1	Carmichael Auditorium
Dec 20, 1980*	No. 8	No. 11 Indiana	W 65–56	7–1	Carmichael Auditorium
Dec 22, 1980*		Rutgers	W 71–64	8–1	Carmichael Auditorium
Dec 29, 1980*	No. 6	vs. Louisville	W 86–64	9–1	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Dec 30, 1980*	No. 6	vs. Minnesota	L 60–76	9–2	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Jan 3, 1981*	No. 6	vs. Kansas	L 55–56	9–3	Kemper Arena Kansas City, Missouri
Jan 7, 1981	No. 16	No. 8 Maryland	W 75–66	10–3 (1–0)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 10, 1981	No. 16	at No. 3 Virginia	L 57–63	10–4 (1–1)	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
ACC Tournament
Mar 5, 1981*	No. 12	vs. NC State Quarterfinals	W 69–54	23–7	Capital Centre Landover, Maryland
Mar 6, 1981*	No. 12	vs. No. 11 Wake Forest Semifinals	W 58–57	24–7	Capital Centre Landover, Maryland
Mar 7, 1981*	No. 12	vs. No. 20 Maryland Championship game	W 61–60	25–7	Capital Centre Landover, Maryland
NCAA Tournament
Mar 15, 1981*	(2 W) No. 6	vs. (10 W) Pittsburgh Second round	W 74–57	26–7	Special Events Center El Paso, Texas
Mar 19, 1981*	(2 W) No. 6	vs. (3 W) No. 14 Utah West Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 61–56^[2]	27–7	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 21, 1981*	(2 W) No. 6	vs. (8 W) Kansas State West Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 82–68^[3]	28–7	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 28, 1981*	(2 W) No. 6	vs. (1 E) No. 5 Virginia National Semifinals – Final Four	W 78–65	29–7	The Spectrum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 30, 1981*	(2 W) No. 6	vs. (3 ME) No. 9 Indiana National Championship	L 50–63	29–8	The Spectrum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West.

NCAA basketball tournament

edit

West
- North Carolina 74, Pittsburgh57
- North Carolina 61, Utah56
- North Carolina 82, Kansas State 68
Final Four
- North Carolina 78, Virginia65
- Indiana 63, North Carolina 50

^[4]

^[5]

Sam Perkins, ACC Rookie of the Year

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1981	1	4	Al Wood	Atlanta Hawks
1981	5	73	Pete Budko	Dallas Mavericks
1981	6	123	Mike Pepper	San Diego Clippers
1982	1	1	James Worthy	Los Angeles Lakers
1982	3	59	Jimmy Black	New Jersey Nets
1982	6	131	Chris Brust	Denver Nuggets
1982	7	153	Jeb Barlow	Denver Nuggets
1983	5	107	Jim Braddock	Denver Nuggets
1984	1	4	Sam Perkins	Dallas Mavericks
1984	6	118	Matt Doherty	Cleveland Cavaliers
1984	9	194	Cecil Exum	Denver Nuggets
1985	5	104	Dean Shaffer	Washington Bullets

^[6]

^ "1981 NCAA Final Four program". March 1981. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

^ "B.Y.U. Defeats Irish, 51-50; North Carolina Ousts Utah". The New York Times. March 20, 1981. Retrieved February 25, 2023.

^ "VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA REACH N.C.A.A. FINAL FOUR". The New York Times. March 22, 1981. Retrieved February 25, 2023.

^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 877–878. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

^ "1981 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.

1980–81 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

Contents

Roster

Schedule and results

NCAA basketball tournament

Rankings

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

Languages