1980–81 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team

The 1980–81 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team represented the Oregon State University as a member of the Pacific 10 Conference during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by 11th-year head coach Ralph Miller and played their home games on campus at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon.

1980–81 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball
Pac-10 champions
NCAA tournament, Second round
Conference	Pac-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
Record	26–2 (17–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Ralph Miller (11th season)
MVP	Steve Johnson
Home arena	Gill Coliseum
Seasons ← 1979–80 1981–82 →

1980–81 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Oregon State	17	–	1		.944			26	–	2		.929
No. 3 Arizona State	16	–	2		.889			24	–	4		.857
No. 10 UCLA	13	–	5		.722			20	–	7		.741
USC	9	–	9		.500			14	–	13		.519
Washington	8	–	10		.444			14	–	13		.519
Arizona	8	–	10		.444			13	–	14		.481
Oregon	6	–	12		.333			13	–	14		.481
California	5	–	13		.278			13	–	14		.481
Stanford	5	–	13		.278			9	–	18		.333
Washington State	3	–	15		.167			10	–	17		.370
As of April 15, 1981^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

After winning their first 26 games of the season, Oregon State fell to No. 5 Arizona State in the regular season finale to finish at 26–1 (17–1 Pac-10), repeating as conference champion, and were ranked second in both polls. Despite dropping the regular season finale, they did not drop in the rankings, and were seeded No. 1 in the West region of the NCAA tournament.

The Beavers received an opening round bye, and were shocked by No. 8 seed Kansas State, 50–48,^[2] at Pauley Pavilion. The Wildcats would reach the Elite Eight before falling to eventual runner-up North Carolina. Oregon State finished the season at 26–2.

Roster

1980–81 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 32 Lester Conner 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Oakland, California F 52 Charlie Sitton 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr McMinnville, Oregon F/C 55 Steve Johnson 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Sr San Bernardino, California	Head coach Ralph Miller Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt

Source:^[3]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 29, 1980*	No. 7	No. 18 Brigham Young	W 75–68	1–0	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Dec 4, 1980	No. 6	Cal State Northridge	W 78–47	2–0	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Dec 6, 1980*	No. 6	at Pepperdine	W 82–76	3–0	Firestone Fieldhouse  Malibu, California
Dec 8, 1980*	No. 5	at Portland State	W 102–58	4–0	Peter W. Stott Center  Portland, Oregon
Dec 13, 1980*	No. 5	Portland	W 92–57	5–0	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Dec 26, 1980*	No. 4	vs. Northwestern	W 90–70	6–0	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
Dec 27, 1980*	No. 4	vs. Rhode Island	W 103–55	7–0	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
Dec 28, 1980*	No. 4	vs. Oregon	W 67–57	8–0	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
Jan 3, 1981	No. 2	at No. 13 Arizona State	W 71–67	9–0 (1–0)	Gill Coliseum  Tempe, Arizona
Jan 5, 1981	No. 2	at Arizona	W 61–49	10–0 (2–0)	McKale Center  Tucson, Arizona
Jan 9, 1981	No. 2	Stanford	W 76–62	11–0 (3–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Jan 10, 1981	No. 2	California	W 80–53	12–0 (4–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Jan 17, 1981	No. 1	Oregon	W 82–55	13–0 (5–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Jan 22, 1981	No. 1	at Washington State	W 66–53	14–0 (6–0)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Jan 24, 1981	No. 1	at Washington	W 97–91	15–0 (7–0)	Bank of America Arena  Seattle, Washington
Jan 29, 1981	No. 1	No. 10 UCLA	W 81–67	16–0 (8–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Jan 31, 1981	No. 1	Southern California	W 55–48	17–0 (9–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Feb 6, 1981	No. 2	at California	W 69–54	18–0 (10–0)	Harmon Gym  Berkeley, California
Feb 7, 1981	No. 2	at Stanford	W 62–57	19–0 (11–0)	Maples Pavilion  Stanford, California
Feb 12, 1981	No. 2	at Oregon	W 78–61	20–0 (12–0)	McArthur Court  Eugene, Oregon
Feb 14, 1981*	No. 2	at St. John's	W 57–45	21–0	Nassau Coliseum  New York, New York
Feb 21, 1981	No. 2	Washington State	W 81–53	22–0 (13–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Feb 23, 1981	No. 2	Washington	W 89–63	23–0 (14–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Feb 27, 1981	No. 2	at USC	W 73–64	24–0 (15–0)	L.A. Sports Arena  Los Angeles, California
Mar 1, 1981	No. 2	at No. 13 UCLA	W 82–76	25–0 (16–0)	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, California
Mar 5, 1981	No. 2	Arizona	W 80–62	26–0 (17–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Mar 7, 1981*	No. 2	No. 5 Arizona State	L 67–87	26–1 (17–1)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1981*	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (8 W) Kansas State	L 48–50^[4]	26–2	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, California
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. All times are in Pacific.

Source:^[5][6]

Rankings

Main article: 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

• Steve Johnson – Consensus First-team All-American, Pac-10 Player of the Year

NBA draft

Main article: 1981 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	7	Steve Johnson	Kansas City Kings

^[7]

References

1. "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
2. "Kansas State Wins By 50-48". The New York Times. March 15, 1981. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
3. "1980–81 Oregon State Beavers Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
4. Layden, Tim (March 14, 2012). "March 14, 1981: When the NCAA tournament became Madness". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
5. "2020-21 Oregon State Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Oregon State University Athletics. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
6. "1980–81 Oregon State Beavers Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
7. "1981 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 11, 2022.