1980–81 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1980–81 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	13–14 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Dave Harshman Edgar Wilson John Holms
Captains	Mike Brkovich Jay Vincent
Home arena	Jenison Field House
Seasons← 1979–80 1981–82 →

1980–81 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 Indiana	14	–	4	.778	26	–	9	.743
No. 13 Iowa	13	–	5	.722	21	–	7	.750
No. 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 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Jud Heathcote in his fifth year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished with a record of 13–14, 7–11 to finish in eighth place in Big Ten play.

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1979–80 season 12–15, 6–12 in Big Ten play to finish in ninth place in conference.

Roster and statistics

1980–81 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
5	Kevin Smith	G	JR	6–2	13.5	2.3	4.8
10	Tim Gore	G	FR	6–4	1.1	0.8	0.3
12	Mike Brkovich	G	SR	6–5	8.2	2.2	2.4
15	Bob Fossum	G	FR	5–9	0.2	0.2	0.2
20	Ben Tower	F	FR	6–8	5.0	3.8	0.7
22	Bill Cawood	G	SO	6–7	0.8	0.5	0.2
23	Randy Morrison	G	FR	6–2	3.4	1.1	1.6
24	Richard Mudd	F	FR	6–9	0.0	1.5	0.0
30	Kurt James	F	SR	6–7
31	Jay Vincent	F/C	SR	6–8	22.6	8.5	1.9
41	Derek Perry	F	SO	6–6	7.5	3.9	0.7
42	Richard Kaye	F	SR	6–6	3.3	1.8	0.4
44	Herb Bostic	F/G	SO	6–4	2.4	1.0	0.7
45	Kevin Radelet	G	JR	5–11	0.2	0.0	0.0
45	George Cooper				2.7	0.3	0.0
52	Steve Bates	C	JR	6–10	0.6	0.7	0.0

Source

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 28, 1980*	Western Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic semifinal	W 89–77	1–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Nov 29, 1980*	Central Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic championship	L 66–89	1–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing
Dec 4, 1980*	at Long Beach State	W 71–60	2–1	Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA
Dec 6, 1980*	at Cal State Fullerton	W 58–42	3–1	Titan Gym Fullerton, CA
Dec 12, 1980*	Eastern Michigan	W 73–63	4–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 16, 1980*	at BYU	L 50–82	4–2	Marriott Center Provo, UT
Dec 19, 1980*	vs. Utah State Industrial National Classic semifinal	L 70–74	4–3	Dunkin' Donuts Center Providence, RI
Dec 20, 1980*	at Providence Industrial National Classic third place game	W 77–76	5–3	Dunkin' Donuts Center Providence, RI
Dec 27, 1980*	Saint Joseph's	W 71–67	6–3	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Big Ten regular season
Jan 8, 1981	at Indiana	L 43–55	6–4 (0–1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Jan 10, 1981	at No. 11 Iowa	L 57–65	6–5 (0–2)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
Jan 15, 1981	No. 20 Minnesota	L 77–86	6–6 (0–3)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 17, 1981	Northwestern	W 84–70	7–6 (1–3)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 22, 1981	at Wisconsin	L 62–63	7–7 (1–4)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Jan 24, 1981	at Purdue	W 74–68	8–7 (2–4)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Jan 29, 1981	Illinois	L 70–71	8–8 (2–5)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 31, 1981	Ohio State	W 60–54	9–8 (3–5)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 5, 1981	at Michigan Rivalry	L 77–79	9–9 (3–6)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 7, 1981	at Ohio State	L 62–73	9–10 (3–7)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Feb 12, 1981	Purdue	L 48–63	9–11 (3–8)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 14, 1981	No. 13 Michigan Rivalry	W 70–66	10–11 (4–8)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 19, 1981	Wisconsin	W 74–65	11–11 (5–8)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 21, 1981	at No. 15 Illinois	L 62–82	11–12 (5–9)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Feb 26, 1981	at Northwestern	W 74–61	12–12 (6–9)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 28, 1981	at Minnesota	L 89–92	12–13 (6–10)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Mar 5, 1981	No. 8 Iowa	W 71–70	13–13 (7–10)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Mar 7, 1981	No. 14 Indiana	L 48–69	13–14 (7–11)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source.

Awards and honors

Jay Vincent – All-Big Ten First Team

References

"1980–81 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
^ "16-17 Michigan State Spartans" (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
"1980-81 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".

v t e Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Venues	Armory (1899–1918) IM Circle (1918–1930) Demonstration Hall (1930–1940) Jenison Fieldhouse (1940–1989) Breslin Student Events Center (1989–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
Culture & lore	Basketbowl Champions Classic "The Flintstones" Izzone Michigan State University student riots
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 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 1999–2000 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 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024-25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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