1980–81 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team

The 1980–81 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by first year head coach Bill Mulligan and played their home games at the Crawford Hall. They were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished the season 17–10 and 9–5 in PCAA play.

1980–81 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball
KOA Tournament Champions
Conference	Pacific Coast Athletic Association
1980–81 record	17–10 (9–5 PCAA)
Head coach	Bill Mulligan (1st season)
Assistant coach	Bob Shermerhorn
Home arena	Crawford Hall

1980–81 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Fresno State†	12	–	2		.857			25	–	4		.862
San Jose State	10	–	4		.714			21	–	9		.700
UC Irvine	9	–	5		.643			17	–	10		.630
Long Beach State	9	–	5		.643			15	–	13		.536
Utah State	5	–	9		.357			12	–	16		.429
UC Santa Barbara	5	–	9		.357			11	–	16		.407
Pacific	4	–	10		.286			14	–	13		.519
Cal State Fullerton	2	–	12		.143			4	–	23		.148
† 1981 PCAA Tournament winner

Previous season

The 1979–80 Anteaters finished the season with a record of 9–18 and 1–13 in PCAA play. They anteaters were invited to the PCAA tournament where they lost in the first round against the Long Beach State 49ers. Coach Tim Tift announced his resignation as coach of the anteaters with 6 games remaining in the season.[1] Saddleback College coach Bill Mulligan was announced as the new coach on March 1.[2]

Off-season

Incoming transfers

Name	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Ray Donnelly	F	6'6"	N/A	Jr.	N/A	Transfer from Arizona[3]
Kevin Fuller	G	6'3"	N/A	Jr.	N/A	Junior College transfer from Long Beach City College(CA)[4]
Leonard Johnson	G	6'3"	N/A	Jr.	N/A	Transfer from Utah[4]
Kevin Magee	F	6'8"	N/A	Jr.	Gary, Indiana	Junior college transfer from Saddleback College(CA)[3]
Grant Taylor	F	6'8"	N/A	Jr.	N/A	Junior College transfer from Cypress College(CA)[4]
Randy Whieldon	G	6'4"	N/A	Jr.	N/A	Junior College transfer from Saddleback College(CA)[4]
Jason Works	G	5'10"	N/A	Jr.	N/A	Junior College transfer from Los Angeles City College[5]

1980 recruiting class

Source:[3]

US college sports recruiting information for 1980 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Ben McDonald F	N/A	Long Beach Poly (CA)	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
Curtis Crossley F	N/A	Eastridge High School (IL)	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources:

Roster

1980–81 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F Don Barnes 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) — So G Robbie Beal 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) — Jr G Louis Bremond 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) — Jr G Kevin Fuller 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) — Jr F Scott Hartman 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) — Jr F Kevin Magee 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) — Jr Gary, Indiana F Ben McDonald 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) — Fr Torrance, California F Grant Taylor 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) — Jr G Randy Whieldon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) — Jr G Jason Works 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) — Jr F Rainer Wulf 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) — Jr	Head coach Bill Mulligan Assistant coach(es) Bob Shermerhorn Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: July 24, 2017

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference Season
November 28, 1980*		VMI	W 125–96	1–0	Crawford Hall (1,348) Irvine, CA
December 6, 1980*		at UNLV	L 95–124	1–1	Las Vegas Convention Center (6.380) Winchester, NV
December 11, 1980*		Chicago Circle	W 98–61	2–1	Crawford Hall (1,294) Irvine, CA
December 13, 1980*		at Stanford	L 84–98	2–2	Maples Pavilion (2,393) Stanford, CA
December 15, 1980*		Western Washington	W 110–82	3–2	Crawford Hall (831) Irvine, CA
December 19, 1980*		vs. San Francisco Golden Gate Invitational	L 83–93	3–3	War Memorial Gymnasium (3,695) San Francisco, CA
December 20, 1980*		vs. Miami(OH) Golden Gate Invitational	L 99–109	3–4	War Memorial Gymnasium (4,295) San Francisco, CA
December 22, 1980*		UMKC	W 110–71	4–4	Crawford Hall (924) Irvine, CA
December 29, 1980*		vs. No. 11 Texas A&M KOA Classic	W 91–74	5–4	MetraPark Arena (5,625) Billings, MT
December 30, 1980*		vs. Montana KOA Classic	W 65–63 ^OT	6–4	MetraPark Arena (4,673) Billings, MT
January 3, 1981*		Portland State	W 90–64	7–4	Crawford Hall (1,543) Irvine, CA
January 10, 1981*		San Diego	W 108–62	8–4	Crawford Hall (1,611) Irvine, CA
Conference Season
January 15, 1981		Cal State Fullerton	W 99–84	9–4 (1–0)	Crawford Hall (1,676) Irvine, CA
January 17, 1981		UC Santa Barbara	W 65–56	10–4 (2–0)	Crawford Hall (1,608) Irvine, CA
January 22, 1981		at Pacific	W 88–72	11–4 (3–0)	Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium (3,059) Stockton, CA
January 24, 1981		at Fresno State	L 51–64	11–5 (3–1)	Selland Arena (6,530) Fresno, CA
January 29, 1981		at Long Beach State	L 59–70	11–6 (3–2)	Long Beach Arena (6,147) Long Beach, CA
January 31, 1981		Long Beach State	L 78–82	11–7 (3–3)	Crawford Hall (1,719) Irvine, CA
February 5, 1981		San Jose State	W 90–78	12–7 (4–3)	Crawford Hall (1,421) Irvine, CA
February 7, 1981		Utah State	W 117–110 ^2OT	13–7 (5–3)	Crawford Hall (1,557) Irvine, CA
February 12, 1981		at Utah State	W 101–99	14–7 (6–3)	Smith Spectrum (6,477) Logan, UT
February 14, 1981		at San Jose State	W 50–49	15–7 (7–3)	Spartan Gym (2,412) San Jose, CA
February 19, 1981		Fresno State	L 55–70	15–8 (7–4)	Crawford Hall (1,663) Irvine, CA
February 21, 1981		Pacific	W 90–82	16–8 (8–4)	Crawford Hall (1,472) Irvine, CA
February 26, 1981		at UC Santa Barbara	L 66–67	16–9 (8–5)	UC Santa Barbara Events Center (2,274) Santa Barbara, CA
February 28, 1981		at Cal State Fullerton	W 75–69	17–9 (9–5)	Titan Gym (2,912) Fullerton, CA
PCAA Tournament
March 5, 1981		vs. Utah State Quarterfinals	L 90–93	17–10	Anaheim Convention Center (6,269) Anaheim, CA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time.

Source[6] [7]

Awards and honors

• Kevin Magee
  • AP First Team All-American[8]
  • PCAA Player of the Year [9]
  • PCAA First Team All-Conference [9]
• Ben McDonald
  • PCAA Freshman of the Year [9]
  • PCAA All-Freshman Team [9]

References

1. Weyler, John (1980-02-09). "UCI's Tim Tift Steps Down as Cage Coach: 13-Year Veteran at Irvine Cites 'the Best Interest of My Family' TIM TIFT QUITS". Los Angeles Times. Irvine, CA.
2. Weyler, John (1980-02-09). "BILL MULLIGAN IS THE NEW COACH AT IRVINE--SO FAR: MULLIGAN NAMED IRVINE COACH". Los Angeles Times. Irvine, CA.
3. Weyler, John (1980-07-15). "Bill Mulligan Rates a '10' for His Recruiting". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, CA.
4. Weyler, John (1980-04-15). "UCI's Mulligan on a Hot Streak". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, CA.
5. Weyler, John (1980-06-19). "Mulligan's Still in the Hunt". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, CA.
6. "UC Irvine Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). UC Irvine Sports. UC Irvine Athletics. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
7. "Final 1981 Cumulative Basketball Statistics Report" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
8. "NCAA College Basketball AP All-American Teams". Basketball Reference. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
9. "Big West Conference men's basketball record book" (PDF). bigwest.org. Big West Conference. Retrieved July 24, 2017.