1980–81 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1980–81 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illini Classic, Champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Regional Semifinals
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#18
AP	#19
1980–81 record	21–8 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coach	Tony Yates
Assistant coach	Dick Nagy
Assistant coach	Bob Hull
Assistant coach	Levi Cobb
MVP	Eddie Johnson
Captain	Derek Holcomb Eddie Johnson Mark Smith
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1980–81 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#9 Indiana	14	–	4	.778	26	–	9	.743
#13 Iowa	13	–	5	.722	21	–	7	.750
#19 Illinois	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
Purdue	10	–	8	.556	21	–	11	.656
Minnesota	9	–	9	.500	19	–	11	.633
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	14	–	13	.519
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	19	–	11	.633
Michigan State	7	–	11	.389	13	–	14	.481
Wisconsin	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407
Northwestern	3	–	15	.167	9	–	18	.333

Rankings from AP Poll)

The 1980–81 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

In 1981, Illinois made strides in its return to the national spotlight with a 21-8 record, a third-place Big Ten finish and an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The team received a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament and beat Wyoming, 67-65, in Los Angeles to advance to the regionals in Salt Lake City, where Illinois lost to Kansas State, 57-52. During this season, the Fighting Illini led the Big Ten in scoring for the second consecutive season and were again led by Eddie Johnson and Mark Smith. Guards Craig Tucker and Derek Harper arrived to add backcourt punch, and Harper began his Illini career being named First-Team Freshman All-America by ESPN and ABC.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Craig Tucker	Flint, Michigan	Flint Northern High School	Jr.	Guard
12	Derek Harper	West Palm Beach, Florida	North Shore High School	Fr.	Guard
13	James Griffin	Grandview, Texas	Dunbar High School	Jr.	Center
14	Sherrod Arnold	Chicago, Illinois	Wendell Phillips High School	So.	Guard
15	Mitch Arnold	Effingham, Illinois	Effingham High School	Fr.	Guard/Forward
20	Kevin Bontemps	Morton, Illinois	Morton High School	So.	Guard
21	Quinn Richardson	Robbins, Illinois	Eisenhower High School	So.	Guard
22	Perry Range	South Beloit, Illinois	South Beloit High School	Jr.	Guard
33	Eddie Johnson (captain)	Chicago, Illinois	Westinghouse High School	Sr.	Forward
42	Mark Smith (co-captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Sr.	Forward
43	Bryan Leonard	Belleville, Illinois	Belleville High School-East	So.	Forward
44	Derek Holcomb (co-captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Sr.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (6th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date Time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Regular Season
11/29/1980* no, no	Loyola Marymount	W 98-65	1-0	Assembly Hall (11,168) Champaign, IL
12/6/1980* no, no	TCU	W 84-62	2-0	Assembly Hall (14,370) Champaign, IL
12/10/1980* no, no	Missouri (#14) Braggin' Rights	W 84-62	3-0	St. Louis Arena (14,370) St. Louis, MO
12/13/1980* no, no	Marquette	W 69-68	4-0	U.S. Cellular Arena (11,052) Milwaukee, WI
12/19/1980* no, no	BYU (#18) Volunteer Classic	L 75-88	4-1	Stokely Athletic Center (12,700) Knoxville, TN
12/20/1980* no, no	Iona Volunteer Classic	W 106-84	5-1	Stokely Athletic Center (12,700) Knoxville, TN
12/26/1980* no, no	Ohio Illini Classic	W 84-54	6-1	Assembly Hall (14,230) Champaign, IL
12/27/1980* no, no	Oklahoma Illini Classic	W 93-63	7-1	Assembly Hall (15,411) Champaign, IL
1/3/1981* no, no	SIU Edwardsville	W 108-68	8-1	Assembly Hall (11,443) Champaign, IL
1/8/1981 no, no	Northwestern	W 88-64	9-1 (1-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,741) Evanston, IL
1/10/1981 no, no	Indiana	L 61-78	9-2 (1-1)	Assembly Hall (17,083) Bloomington, IN
1/15/1981 no, no	Purdue	W 87-65	10-2 (2-1)	Assembly Hall (16,506) Champaign, IL
1/17/1981 no, no	Minnesota (#20)	W 80-76	11-2 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (16,630) Champaign, IL
1/22/1981 no, no	Michigan (#16)	L 76-80	11-3 (3-2)	Crisler Center (11,055) Ann Arbor, MI
1/24/1981 no, no	Wisconsin	L 45-54	11-4 (3-3)	Assembly Hall (16,495) Champaign, IL
1/29/1981 no, no	Michigan State	W 71-70	12-4 (4-3)	Jenison Fieldhouse (7,443) East Lansing, MI
1/31/1981 no, no	Iowa (#13)	W 79-66	13-4 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (16,555) Champaign, IL
2/5/1981 no, no	Ohio State	W 82-63	14-4 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (16,586) Champaign, IL
2/7/1981 no, no	Iowa (#15)	L 66-72	14-5 (6-4)	Iowa Field House (13,365) Iowa City, IA
2/12/1981 no, no	Wisconsin	W 84-65	15-5 (7-4)	Wisconsin Field House (7,334) Madison, WI
2/14/1981 no, no	Ohio State	W 63-57	16-5 (8-4)	St. John Arena (13,591) Columbus, OH
2/19/1981 no, no	Michigan (#18)	W 67-64	17-5 (9-4)	Assembly Hall (16,492) Champaign, IL
2/21/1981 no, no	Michigan State	W 82-62	18-5 (10-4)	Assembly Hall (16,559) Champaign, IL
2/26/1981 no, no	Minnesota	L 59-76	18-6 (10-5)	Williams Arena (16,290) Minneapolis, MN
2/28/1981 no, no	Purdue	W 81-70	19-6 (11-5)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
3/5/1981 no, no	Indiana (#14)	L 66-69	19-7 (11-6)	Assembly Hall (16,663) Champaign, IL
3/7/1981 no, no	Northwestern	W 98-76	20-7 (12-6)	Assembly Hall (16,622) Champaign, IL
NCAA Tournament
3/14/1981* no, no	Wyoming (#17) NCAA Division I Tournament	W 67-65	21-7	Pauley Pavilion (12,340) Los Angeles, CA
3/19/1981* no, no	Kansas State NCAA Division I Tournament	L 67-65	21-7	Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,450) Salt Lake City, UT
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Eddie Johnson^[3]	29	219	62	267	70	6	30	500
Mark Smith^[4]	29	150	102	172	98	18	36	402
Craig Tucker^[5]	29	117	76	39	58	3	19	310
Perry Range^[6]	29	101	65	115	70	0	33	267
Derek Harper^[7]	29	104	33	75	156	8	39	241
James Griffin^[8]	29	117	76	39	58	3	18	227
Derek Holcomb^[9]	29	70	31	148	40	42	14	171

NCAA basketball tournament

West
- Illinois 67, Wyoming 65
- Kansas State 57, Illinois 52

^[10]

Awards and honors

Eddie Johnson
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]

Derek Harper
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA club
2	29	Eddie Johnson	Kansas City Kings
3	50	Derek Holcomb	Portland Trail Blazers
3	67	Mark Smith	Milwaukee Bucks

^[12]

References

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)

Rivalries	Indiana Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 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 2015–16

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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