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| Date | March 30, 1981 | ||||||||||||
| Venue | The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||||
| Referees | Ken Lauderdale, Lou Moser, & Booker Turner[1] | ||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | Dick Enberg, Billy Packer, and Al McGuire | ||||||||||||
← 1980
1982 →
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The 1981 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game took place on March 30, 1981, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Indiana HoosiersatThe SpectruminPhiladelphia. The matchup was the final one of the forty-third consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship single-elimination tournament — commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament — organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is used to crown a national champion for men's basketball at the Division I level.[2]
Because of the assassination attempt on President Ronald ReaganbyJohn Hinckley, there was talk of postponing or cancelling the title game; but once NCAA officials learned that Reagan had made it through surgery and would survive his injuries, the game was played as scheduled.[3] Howard Cosell criticized the NCAA for not postponing the game due to the Reagan assassination attempt.
Indiana defeated North Carolina by a 63–50 score to win their second national title in six years and fourth overall. As of 2024, this remains the only time a team from the Big Ten defeated an ACC team in the championship game.
The 1980–81 season was the last before the NCAA began sponsoring a championship for Division I women's basketball. All future NCAA men's tournaments and championship games would include "Men's" in their official titles.
It was the first national championship game between the schools. Indiana was seeking its fourth national championship (1940, 1953, 1976) while North Carolina was looking for its second, having last won in 1957.
| Indiana | Position | North Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| † Isiah Thomas1 | G | Jimmy Black | ||
| Randy Wittman | G | Mike Pepper | ||
| Ted Kitchel | F | James Worthy | ||
| Landon Turner | F | Al Wood1 | ||
| Ray Tolbert1 | C | Sam Perkins | ||
| † 1981 Consensus First Team All-American | ||||
| Players selected in the 1981 NBA draft (number indicates round) | ||||
Source[4]
NBC |
March 30, 1981 |
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| #ME3 Indiana Hoosiers 63, #W2 North Carolina Tar Heels50 | ||
| Scoring by half: 27-26, 36-24 | ||
| Pts: Isiah Thomas23 Rebs: Ray Tolbert11 Asts: Jim Thomas8 |
Pts: Al Wood18 Rebs: Sam Perkins8 Asts: Jimmy Black6 | |
The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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