The 1980–81 Lamar Cardinals basketball team represented

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...

during the

1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 28, 1980, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on Marc ...

. The Cardinals were led by first-year head coach

Pat Foster Pat Foster (born June 22, 1939) is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Lamar University (1980–1986), University of Houston (1986–1993), and the University of Nevada, Reno (1993–1999) ...

and played their home games at McDonald Gym in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

as members of the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

. The Cardinals won the regular season conference championship and the 1981 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament. They received an automatic invitation to the

1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1981 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1981, and ended with the championshi ...

where they defeated the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

in the first game and lost to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in the second game. Lamar finished the season with a record of 25–5. The Cardinals were ranked in the AP Poll for one week at number 19.

Roster

Sources:

Schedule and results

Sources: , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Southland Conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Southland tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 Lamar Cardinals basketball team Lamar Cardinals basketball seasons Lamar Lamar

Lamar Cardinals basketball The Lamar Cardinals basketball team represents Lamar University in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The Cardinals currently play in the Southland Conference following a return from the Western Athletic Conference on July 11, 2022. T ...