1980–81 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1980–81 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA Tournament, Round of 32
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 8
APNo. 8
Record22–6 (15–3 SEC)
Head coach
Home arenaRupp Arena
1980–81 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 LSU 17 1   .944 31 5   .861
No. 8 Kentucky 15 3   .833 22 6   .786
No. 15 Tennessee 12 6   .667 21 8   .724
Alabama 10 8   .556 18 11   .621
Georgia 9 9   .500 19 12   .613
Ole Miss 8 10   .444 16 14   .533
Vanderbilt 7 11   .389 15 14   .517
Florida 5 13   .278 12 16   .429
Auburn 4 14   .222 11 16   .407
Mississippi State 3 15   .167 8 19   .296
1981 SEC tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1980–81 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented University of Kentucky in the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Joe B. Hall and the team finished the season with an overall record of 22–6. In the 1981 NCAA Tournament Kentucky was upset by the University of Alabama at Birmingham 69–62 in the second round.