1980–81 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team

1980–81 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
1980–81 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
Conference	Southern Conference
Record	18–10 (8–8 SoCon)
Head coach	Bob Zuffelato (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	C. J. Woollum; Stan Pelcher; Jim Kelly;
Home arena	Cam Henderson Center
	Seasons ← 1979–80 1981–82 →

1980–81 Southern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Chattanooga †	11	–	5	.688	21	–	9	.700
Davidson	11	–	5	.688	13	–	14	.481
Appalachian State	11	–	5	.688	20	–	9	.690
East Tennessee State	9	–	7	.563	13	–	14	.481
Western Carolina	9	–	7	.563	18	–	10	.643
Furman	8	–	8	.500	11	–	16	.407
Marshall	8	–	8	.500	18	–	10	.643
VMI	3	–	13	.188	4	–	23	.148
The Citadel	2	–	14	.125	9	–	17	.346

† 1981 Southern Conference Tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 1980–81 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team represented Marshall University during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Thundering Herd, led by second-year head coach Bob Zuffelato, played their home games at the Cam Henderson Center as members of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 18–10, 8–8 in SoCon play to finish tied in seventh place.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	25	Ken Labanowski	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Oyster Bay, New York
G	10	Greg White	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Mullens, West Virginia
F		George Washington	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Jr
G		LaVerne Evans	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Fr
C		Charles Jones	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	So
F		David Wade	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Fr
C		Larry Watson	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	Jr
F		Barry Kincaid	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	So
G		Sam Henry	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Fr
G		Jeff Oplinger	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Sr
C		Ron Gilmore	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	—	Sr
		Scott Haga	—	—
G		Gary Hines	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	—	Jr

Head coach

Bob Zuffelato

Assistant coach(es)

C. J. Woollum
Stan Pelcher
Jim Kelly

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 28, 1980*		at Charleston (W.Va.)	W 74–54	1–0
Dec 1, 1980*		South Carolina	W 116–85	2–0	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Dec 6, 1980*		at West Virginia	W 76–73	3–0	WVU Coliseum Morgantown, WV
Dec 8, 1980		Davidson	L 73–79	3–1 (0–1)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Dec 13, 1980*		Ohio Wesleyan	W 95–69	4–1	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Dec 15, 1980*		Morehead State	W 95–85	5–1	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Dec 20, 1980*		Pitt-Johnstown	W 109–87	6–1	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Dec 22, 1980*		at Ohio	W 65–59	7–1	Convocation Center Athens, OH
Dec 29, 1980*		at No. 9 Maryland	L 89–114	7–2	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Dec 30, 1980*		vs. Bowling Green State	W 87–85	8–2	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Jan 3, 1981		VMI	W 90–81	9–2 (1–1)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Jan 5, 1981		Appalachian State	W 58–56	10–2 (2–1)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Jan 10, 1981		at Davidson	L 76–104	10–3 (2–2)	Johnston Gym Davidson, NC
Jan 12, 1981		at Chattanooga	L 79–95	10–4 (2–3)	Maclellan Gymnasium Chattanooga, Tennessee
Jan 17, 1981		East Tennessee State	W 78–66	11–4 (3–3)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Jan 19, 1981		Furman	W 98–80	12–4 (4–3)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Jan 24, 1981		at Appalachian State	L 56–75	12–5 (4–4)	Varsity Gymnasium Boone, North Carolina
Jan 26, 1981		at VMI	W 63–53	13–5 (5–4)	VMI Field House Lexington, Virginia
Jan 31, 1981		The Citadel	W 76–60	14–5 (6–4)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Feb 2, 1981		Western Carolina	W 82–74	15–5 (7–4)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Feb 7, 1981		at East Tennessee State	L 75–76	15–6 (7–5)	Memorial Center Johnson City, TN
Feb 9, 1981		at Western Carolina	L 78–80	15–7 (7–6)	Cullowhee, NC
Feb 14, 1981		Chattanooga	L 77–89	15–8 (7–7)	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Feb 16, 1981*		Liberty	W 75–63	16–8	Cam Henderson Center Huntington, WV
Feb 19, 1981		at Furman	L 90–92	16–9 (7–8)	Greenville Memorial Auditorium Greenville, SC
Feb 23, 1981		at The Citadel	W 87–79	17–9 (8–8)	McAlister Field House Charleston, SC
SoCon tournament
Feb 28, 1981*	(7)	at (2) Davidson Quarterfinals	W 90–77	18–9	Roanoke Civic Center Roanoke, VA
Mar 6, 1981*	(7)	vs. (3) Appalachian State Semifinals	L 62–77	18–10	Roanoke Civic Center Roanoke, VA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[1]^[2]

References

^ "1980–81 Marshall Thundering Herd Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/herdzone.com/documents/2018/10/24/MBB_MediaGuide_18_19.pdf?timestamp=20181024035617

[1] "1980–81 Marshall Thundering Herd Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[2] ttps://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/herdzone.com/documents/2018/10/24/MBB_MediaGuide_18_19.pdf?timestamp=20181024035617

[1]

[2]

v t e Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
Venues	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse (1950–1981) Cam Henderson Center (1981–present)
Rivalries	West Virginia
Culture & lore	Marco the Bison
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–18 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
NAIA national championship in bold