1981–82 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

The 1981–82 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Digger Phelps and was ranked in the Associated Press poll for the entirety of the season. The Fighting Irish finished the regular season with a record of 10–17.

1981–82 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
Conference	Independent
Record	10–17
Head coach	Digger Phelps (11th season)
Assistant coach	Pete Gillen (2nd season)
Captain	Mike Mitchell (1st year)
Home arena	Joyce Center
Seasons ← 1980–81 1982–83 →

1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball independents standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 DePaul		–			–			26	–	2		.929
Marquette		–			–			23	–	9		.719
Dayton		–			–			21	–	9		.700
New Orleans		–			–			18	–	8		.692
UNLV		–			–			20	–	10		.667
Cleveland State		–			–			17	–	10		.630
Southeastern Louisiana		–			–			16	–	11		.593
Southern Mississippi		–			–			15	–	11		.577
Penn State		–			–			15	–	12		.556
Tennessee State		–			–			13	–	12		.520
Eastern Illinois		–			–			14	–	13		.519
Green Bay		–			–			14	–	13		.519
Illinois-Chicago		–			–			14	–	13		.519
Western Illinois		–			–			14	–	13		.519
Charleston Southern		–			–			13	–	13		.500
South Carolina		–			–			14	–	15		.483
UNC Wilmington		–			–			13	–	14		.481
Northern Iowa		–			–			12	–	15		.444
Stetson		–			–			12	–	15		.444
Campbell		–			–			11	–	16		.407
Notre Dame		–			–			10	–	17		.370
U.S. International		–			–			9	–	18		.333
Valparaiso		–			–			9	–	18		.333
Texas-San Antonio		–			–			8	–	19		.296
Nicholls State		–			–			6	–	20		.231
Texas-Rio Grande Valley		–			–			5	–	20		.200
Utica		–			–			4	–	22		.154
Georgia State		–			–			4	–	23		.148
As of ^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

Guard Mike Mitchell was the team's captain and leading scorer, averaging 6.4 points per game.

Roster

1981–82 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 25 Marc Kelly 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Sr La Crescenta, California G 15 Mike Mitchell 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr San Bruno, California G 23 John Paxson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Kettering, Ohio G 33 Tom Sluby 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Washington, DC	Head coach Digger Phelps Assistant coach(es) 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
November 28		St. Joseph (IN)	W 82–52	1–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 1		at No. 12 Indiana	L 55–69	1–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
December 5		No. 8 UCLA	L 49–75	1–2	Joyce Center (11,345) Notre Dame, IN
December 7		Murray State	L 54–56	1–3	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 12		Northern Illinois	L 65–70	1–4	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 22		Valparaiso	W 75–60	2–4	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 29		at No. 4 Kentucky	L 28–34 ^OT	2–5	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
January 2		at No. 7 Missouri	L 70–92	2–6	Kemper Arena  Kansas City, Missouri
January 4		at La Salle	L 61–66	2–7	Palestra  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 6		vs. No. 2 Virginia	L 54–87	2–8	Capital Centre (17,422) Landover, Maryland
January 12		vs. No. 7 San Francisco	L 55–57	2–9	Oakland Coliseum  Oakland, California
January 16		Davidson	W 59–45	3–9	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 19		Villanova	L 46–48	3–10	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 23		Maryland	W 55–51	4–10	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 25 8:00 pm, USA		No. 11 Idaho	W 50–48 ^OT	5–10	Joyce Center (11,345) Notre Dame, IN
January 27		Maine	W 79–55	6–10	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 30		Marquette	L 62–70	6–11	Joyce Center (11,345) Notre Dame, IN
February 2		No. 7 San Francisco	W 75–66	7–11	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 7		at UCLA	L 47–48	7–12	Pauley Pavilion (10,244) Los Angeles, California
February 13		North Carolina State	L 42–62	7–13	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 18		vs. Seton Hall	L 58–71	7–14	Izod Center  East Rutherford, NJ
February 20		at South Carolina	W 59–55	8–14	Carolina Coliseum  Columbia, SC
February 23		Fordham	L 50–65	8–15	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 27		No. 3 DePaul	L 69–81	8–16	Joyce Center (11,345) Notre Dame, IN
March 2		Northern Iowa	W 86–56	9–16	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
March 6		at Dayton	W 86–56	9–17	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, Ohio
March 7		vs. Michigan	W 53–52	10–17	Silverdome  Pontiac, Michigan
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[2][3]

Players selected in NBA drafts

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1983	1	19	John Paxson	San Antonio Spurs
1983	5	98	Tim Andree	Chicago Bulls
1983	9	202	Bill Varner	Milwaukee Bucks
1984	2	41	Tom Sluby	Dallas Mavericks

^[4]

References

1. "1981-82 Independent Season Summary".
2. "1981-82 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule". sports-reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
3. "2018_19_MBB_Media_Guide_season" (PDF). Notre Dame Athletics. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
4. "Notre Dame draft history at basketball-reference.com". Retrieved March 3, 2019.