1980–81 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 6

The 1980–81 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented University of North Carolina. Led by senior guard-forward Al Wood, it won the 1981 ACC Tournament and reached the championship of the NCAA Tournament, falling to the University of Indiana 62-50. The Head Coach was Dean Smith. The team played its home games at Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

NCAA basketball tournament

West
- North Carolina 74, Pittsburgh 57
- North Carolina 61, Utah 56
- North Carolina 82, Kansas State 68
Final Four
- North Carolina 78, Virginia 65
- Indiana 63, North Carolina 50

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Awards and honors

Sam Perkins, ACC Rookie of the Year

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1981	1	4	Al Wood	Atlanta Hawks
1981	5	73	Pete Budko	Dallas Mavericks
1981	6	123	Mike Pepper	San Diego Clippers
1982	1	1	James Worthy	Los Angeles Lakers
1982	3	59	Jimmy Black	New Jersey Nets
1982	6	131	Chris Brust	Denver Nuggets
1982	7	153	Jeb Barlow	Denver Nuggets
1983	5	107	Jim Braddock	Denver Nuggets
1984	1	4	Sam Perkins	Dallas Mavericks
1984	6	118	Matt Doherty	Cleveland Cavaliers
1984	9	194	Cecil Exum	Denver Nuggets
1985	5	104	Dean Shaffer	Washington Bullets

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References

v t e North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1910–1923) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)
Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Blue blood status Dixie Classic/Big Four Jumpman Invitational Tobacco Road Academic-athletic scandal Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics