1980–81 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

1980–81 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball

Metro Conference Champions Metro Conference Tournament Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament Second Round, L 74–73 v. Arkansas
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
AP	#12
1980–81 record	21–9 (11–1 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum
Captain	Game captains
Home arena	Freedom Hall

The 1980–81 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 1980-81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 67th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Metro Conference and were coached by Denny Crum, who was in his tenth season. The team played its home games at Freedom Hall.

The Cardinals won the Metro Conference Tournament Championship (their 3rd), defeating Cincinnati 42–31. As defending Champion Louisville was upset by a half-court shot by U.S. Reed and lost to Arkansas 74–73 in the NCAA Tournament Second Round. The Cardinals finished with a 21–9 (11–1) record.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site
November 22*	vs. #2 DePaul (Hall of Fame Game)	L 80–86	0-1
December 4	at Tulsa	L 60–68	0-2
December 6*	at Oklahoma State	L 71–72	0-3
December 13*	#4 Maryland	W 78–67	1-3	Freedom Hall
December 20*	Utah	L 59–78	1-4	Freedom Hall
December 22*	Minnesota	L 59–62	1-5	Freedom Hall
December 29*	vs. #6 North Carolina (Winston Tire Classic)	L 64–86	1-6
December 30*	vs. USC (Winston Tire Classic)	W 79–50	2-6
January 3*	at Kansas State	L 47–64	2-7
January 5	at Tulane	W 73–53	3-7 (1-0)
January 10	at Cincinnati	W 83–68	4-7 (2-0)
January 17	Florida State	W 98–78	5-7 (3-0)	Freedom Hall
January 18*	Missouri	W 71–49	6-7	Freedom Hall
January 22*	at Memphis State	L 55–60 ^OT	6-8 (3-1)
January 27*	Providence	W 71–55	7-8	Freedom Hall
January 29	St. Louis	W 61–57	8-8 (4-1)	Freedom Hall
January 31	Virginia Tech	W 92–70	9-8 (5-1)	Freedom Hall
February 2*	US International	W 86–68	10-8	Freedom Hall
February 4	Tulane	W 85–58	11-8 (6-1)	Freedom Hall
February 7	at Florida State	W 82–73 ^OT	12-8 (7-1)
February 9	at Virginia Tech	W 71–66	13-8 (8-1)
February 13*	at Marquette	W 79–60	14-8
February 16	Memphis State	W 95–65	15-8 (9-1)	Freedom Hall
February 18*	Iona	W 91–57	16-8	Freedom Hall
February 23	Cincinnati	W 81–67	17-8 (10-1)	Freedom Hall
February 25	at St. Louis	W 97–85	18-8 (11-1)
February 28*	Western Kentucky	W 90–75	19-8	Freedom Hall
March 6*	Virginia Tech (Metro Conference Tournament • Semifinals)	W 81–68	20-8	Freedom Hall
March 7*	Cincinnati (Metro Conference Tournament • Final)	W 42–31	21-8	Freedom Hall
March 14*	vs. #20 Arkansas (NCAA Tournament • First Round)	L 73–74	21-9
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[2]

References

↑ "Lousivlle Basketball Media Guide". Lousivlle Basketball Media Guide. University of Louisville. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
↑ 2012-13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball media guide. Retrieved 2013-May-08.

Louisville Cardinals men's basketball

Venues	Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)

Rivalries	Kentucky Memphis Virginia

Culture & lore	History Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue

People	Head coaches Notable players

Seasons	1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics