1980–81 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1980–81 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	14–13 (4–10 ACC)
Head coach	Jim Valvano (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Marty Fletcher (3rd season) Ray Martin (1st season)
Home arena	Reynolds Coliseum
Seasons← 1979–80 1981–82 →

1980–81 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 Virginia	13	–	1	.929	29	–	4	.879
No. 6 North Carolina †	10	–	4	.714	29	–	8	.784
No. 11 Wake Forest	9	–	5	.643	22	–	7	.759
No. 18 Maryland	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

The 1980–81 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team represented North Carolina State University during the 1980–81 men's college basketball season. It was Jim Valvano's 1st season as head coach.

Roster

1980–81 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	10	Max Perry	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Jr	Hanover, Indiana
G	12	Emmett Lay	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Tabor City, North Carolina
G	14	Phil Weber	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	So	Northport, New York
G	25	Dereck Whittenburg	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Glenarden, Maryland
F	30	Harold Thompson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	206 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Raeford, North Carolina
F	33	Art Jones	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Hampton, Virginia
G	34	Kenny Matthews	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Sr	Washington, D.C.
G	35	Sidney Lowe	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Washington, D.C.
F	40	Scott Parzych	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Jr	Lockport, Illinois
C	41	Thurl Bailey	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So	Washington, D.C.
C	42	Craig Watts	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	224 lb (102 kg)	Sr	South Easton, Massachusetts
C	52	Chuck Nevitt	7 ft 5 in (2.26 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Marietta, Georgia

Head coach

Jim Valvano (Rutgers)

Assistant coach(es)

Marty Fletcher (Maryland)
Ray Martin (Notre Dame)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
November 29*		UNC Wilmington	W 83–59	1–0	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 1, 1980*		Davidson	W 89–72	2–0	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 5, 1980*		vs. Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	L 57–87	2–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 6, 1980*		vs. Duke Big Four Tournament	W 74–60	3–1	Greensboro Coliseum (15,333) Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 13, 1980*		Campbell	W 82–56	4–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 17, 1980*		Appalachian State	W 71–47	5–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 20, 1980		at No. 9 Maryland	L 75–82	5–2 (0–1)	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Dec 26, 1980*		vs. Iona ECAC Holiday Festival Semifinal	W 61–58	6–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Dec 27, 1980*		at St. John's ECAC Holiday Festival Championship	W 64–55	7–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Jan 3, 1981		at Clemson	L 68–76	7–3 (0–2)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, South Carolina
Jan 7, 1981		at No. 3 Virginia	L 55–63	7–4 (0–3)	University Hall (5,100) Charlottesville, Virginia
Jan 10, 1981		Georgia Tech	W 93–68	8–4 (1–3)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 14, 1981		at No. 17 North Carolina	L 70–73	8–5 (1–4)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 17, 1981		at No. 5 Wake Forest	L 52–60	8–6 (1–5)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 21, 1981*		Duke	L 47–56	8–7 (1–6)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 24, 1981*		East Carolina	W 77–52	9–7	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 28, 1981		at Georgia Tech	W 70–55	10–7 (2–6)	Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, Georgia
Jan 31, 1981		No. 12 North Carolina	L 54–57	10–8 (2–7)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 4, 1981		Clemson	L 76–82	10–9 (2–8)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 6, 1981*		Furman	W 77–60	11–9	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 7, 1981*		Saint Joseph's	W 47–42	12–9	Reynolds Coliseum (11,198) Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 11, 1981		No. 1 Virginia	L 46–51	12–10 (2–9)	Reynolds Coliseum (12,400) Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 14, 1981*		No. 12 Notre Dame	L 55–71	12–11	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 19, 1981		at Duke	W 52–51	13–11 (3–9)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, North Carolina
Feb 25, 1981		No. 17 Maryland	L 72–76	13–12 (3–10)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 28, 1981		No. 12 Wake Forest	W 66–65	14–12 (4–10)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
ACC Tournament
March 5*	(7)	vs. (2) No. 12 North Carolina Quarterfinals	L 54–69	14–13	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

References

"NC State Basketball All-Time Results" (PDF). NC State Athletic Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 877–878. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

v t e NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
Venues	Thompson Gym (1925–1949) Reynolds Coliseum (1949–1999) Lenovo Center (1999–present)
Rivalries	East Carolina North Carolina Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Dixie Classic / Big Four Tobacco Road 1961 gambling scandal 2018 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 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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