1981–82 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team

1981–82 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 16
Record21–8 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPKevin Boyle
Home arenaIowa Field House
(Capacity: 13,365)
1981–82 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 7 Minnesota 14 4   .778 23 6   .793
No. 16 Iowa 12 6   .667 21 8   .724
Ohio State 12 6   .667 21 10   .677
Indiana 12 6   .667 19 10   .655
Purdue 11 7   .611 18 14   .563
Illinois 10 8   .556 18 11   .621
Michigan State 6 12   .333 11 17   .393
Michigan 6 12   .333 7 20   .259
Northwestern 4 14   .222 8 19   .296
Wisconsin* 1 17   .056 4 23   .148
Rankings from AP Poll
*Wisconsin forfeited all games after Jan 25, 1982 due to NCAA sanctions.
Disputed record (3–15, 6–23)

The 1981–82 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team represented the University of Iowa as members of the Big Ten Conference. The team was led by head coach Lute Olson, coaching in his 8th season at the school, and played their home games on campus at the Iowa Field House in Iowa City. They were 20–7 in the regular season and 12–6 in Big Ten play.

In mid-February, Iowa was 18–2 and ranked fifth in the AP poll, but then dropped five of their final seven games. In the last three games of the regular season, all losses, two went to overtime and the third was by a point.

The Hawkeyes received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the sixth-seed in the West Regional. In the opening round at Pullman, Washington, Iowa defeated Northeast Louisiana by seven, but fell 69–67 in overtime to local favorite and #3 seed Idaho in the Round of 32, and finished at 21–8 overall.