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1979–80 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball
1979–80 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball
National Invitation Tournament, Runner-Up
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	21–11 (10–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jim Dutcher;
Assistant coaches	Jimmy Williams; Jessie Evans; Marty Gillespie;
Home arena	Williams Arena
	Seasons ← 1978–79 1980–81 →

1979–80 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 Indiana	13	–	5	.722	21	–	8	.724
No. 10 Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
No. 20 Purdue	11	–	7	.611	23	–	10	.697
Iowa	10	–	8	.556	23	–	10	.697
Minnesota	10	–	8	.556	21	–	11	.656
Illinois	8	–	10	.444	22	–	13	.629
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	17	–	13	.567
Wisconsin	7	–	11	.389	15	–	14	.517
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	12	–	15	.444
Northwestern	5	–	13	.278	10	–	17	.370

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979–80 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Jim Dutcher, the Gophers played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Minnesota finished tied for fourth in the rugged Big Ten Conference (Indiana and Ohio State were top 10 teams throughout the season while Iowa and Purdue reached the Final Four) with a record of 10–8, but were left out of the 48-team NCAA Tournament. The Gophers went on to reach the championship game of the 1980 NIT, where they fell to Virginia and college legend Ralph Sampson,^[1] and finished with an overall record of 21–11.

Senior forward Kevin McHale finished his career as the school-record holder in blocks while also establishing the single-season record (surpassed three seasons later by teammate Randy Breuer). He finished second on the career scoring and rebounding charts. McHale was taken by the Boston Celtics with the No. 3 pick in the 1980 NBA draft.

Roster

1979–80 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	24	Mark Hall	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—	So
G	32	Trent Tucker	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Flint, Michigan
F	42	Gary Holmes	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	—	So
F/C	44	Kevin McHale	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Hibbing, Minnesota
C	45	Randy Breuer	7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Fr	Lake City, Minnesota
F	54	Ben Coleman	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Minneapolis, Minnesota

Head coach

Jim Dutcher (Michigan)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-Conference Regular Season
Nov 30, 1979*	Eastern Michigan	W 77–56	1–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 3, 1979*	Fresno State	W 65–49	2–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 5, 1979*	North Dakota	W 87–60	3–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 15, 1979*	Nebraska	W 75–58	4–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 17, 1979*	at Tennessee	L 64–71	4–1	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Dec 20, 1979*	at Florida State	L 91–112	4–2	Tully Gymnasium Tallahassee, Florida
Dec 22, 1979*	Kansas State	W 78–61	5–2	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 28, 1979*	Rutgers	W 98–59	6–2	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 29, 1979*	at Texas A&M	W 69–63	7–2	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Big Ten Conference Regular Season
Jan 3, 1980	at Michigan	L 67–71	7–3 (0–1)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan
Jan 5, 1980	at Michigan State	W 93–80	8–3 (1–1)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, Michigan
Jan 10, 1980	Wisconsin	W 82–76 ^OT	9–3 (2–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 12, 1980*	Illinois	W 79–75	10–3 (3–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 17, 1980	at No. 2 Ohio State	L 70–75 ^OT	10–4 (3–2)	St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio
Jan 19, 1980	No. 11 Purdue	W 67–61	11–4 (4–2)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 24, 1980	No. 16 Indiana	W 55–47	12–4 (5–2)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 26, 1980	at Iowa	L 73–80	12–5 (5–3)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 31, 1980	at Northwestern	W 74–64	13–5 (6–3)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois
Feb 2, 1980	Iowa	L 63–73	13–6 (6–4)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Feb 7, 1980	at No. 12 Purdue	L 56–58	13–7 (6–5)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
Feb 9, 1980	Northwestern	W 72–55	14–7 (7–5)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Feb 14, 1980	No. 9 Ohio State	W 74–70	15–7 (8–5)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Feb 16, 1980	at Indiana	L 54–67	15–8 (8–6)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
Feb 21, 1980	at Illinois	L 58–60 ^OT	15–9 (8–7)	Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois
Feb 23, 1980	at Wisconsin	L 55–70	15–10 (8–8)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 28, 1980	Michigan State	W 87–73	16–10 (9–8)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 1, 1980	Michigan	W 68–67	17–10 (10–8)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
National Invitation Tournament
Mar 5, 1980*	Bowling Green First Round	W 64–50	18–10	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 10, 1980*	Mississippi Second Round	W 58–56	19–10	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 13, 1980*	Southwestern Louisiana Quarterfinal	W 94–73	20–10	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 17, 1980*	vs. Illinois Semifinal	W 65–63	21–10	Madison Square Garden (11,223) New York, New York
Mar 19, 1980*	vs. Virginia Championship game	L 55–58^[1]	21–11	Madison Square Garden (13,598) New York, New York
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[3]

Team players in the 1980 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	3	Kevin McHale	Boston Celtics

^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b "Virginia Is King In NIT". The Washington Post. March 20, 1980. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
^ "1979-80 Minnesota Golden Gophers Roster and Stats". Retrieved February 7, 2021.
^ "2020-21 Minnesota Golden Gophers Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Minnesota Athletics. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
^ "1980 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 7, 2021.

[NIT-CG-1] "Virginia Is King In NIT". The Washington Post. March 20, 1980. Retrieved February 7, 2021.

[2] "1979-80 Minnesota Golden Gophers Roster and Stats". Retrieved February 7, 2021.

[3] "2020-21 Minnesota Golden Gophers Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Minnesota Athletics. Retrieved February 7, 2021.

[4] "1980 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 7, 2021.

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