1979–80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

The 1979–80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Digger Phelps and was ranked in the Associated Press poll for the entirety of the season.

1979–80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
NCAA Tournament, Second Round L 84–87 OT vs. Missouri
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 11
AP	No. 9
1979–80 record	22–6
Head coach	Digger Phelps (9th season)
Assistant coaches	Danny Nee Scott Thompson Tom McLaughlin
Captains	Rich Branning (Senior year) Bill Hanzlik (Senior year)
Home arena	Joyce Center

1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball independents standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 DePaul		–			–			26	–	2		.929
No. 9 Notre Dame		–			–			23	–	8		.742
Tennessee State		–			–			19	–	7		.731
UNLV		–			–			23	–	9		.719
Cleveland State		–			–			18	–	8		.692
Illinois State		–			–			20	–	9		.690
Marquette		–			–			18	–	9		.667
UNC Wilmington		–			–			19	–	10		.655
Penn State		–			–			18	–	10		.643
Southern Mississippi		–			–			17	–	10		.630
South Carolina		–			–			16	–	11		.593
Campbell		–			–			15	–	12		.556
East Carolina		–			–			15	–	12		.556
Stetson		–			–			15	–	12		.556
Detroit		–			–			14	–	13		.519
Dayton		–			–			13	–	14		.481
North Texas State		–			–			13	–	14		.481
Milwaukee		–			–			9	–	17		.346
Valparaiso		–			–			8	–	18		.308
Portland State		–			–			5	–	21		.192
Charleston Southern		–			–			2	–	23		.080
Rankings from AP Poll

Preseason

The Irish were ranked fifth in the preseason AP Poll, behind Indiana, Kentucky, Duke and Ohio State.[1] While they lost frontcourt contributors Bruce Flowers and Bill Laimbeer to graduation, they added a recruiting class ranked fourth nationally by the 1979–80 Street & Smith basketball yearbook.[2] The class included McDonald's All-Americans Tim Andree and John Paxson and highly regarded forward Bill Varner.[3][4] Key returning players were 1979 All-American Kelly Tripucka and future National Basketball Association (NBA) players Tracy Jackson, Bill Hanzlik and Orlando Woolridge. Woolridge was moved from forward to center to replace Flowers and Laimbeer.[5][6] Senior point guard Rich Branning was selected co-captain of the team with Hanzlik.[7]

Leading up to an Olympic year, Notre Dame played an exhibition game against the Soviet National Team, notching a surprising 86–76 win behind Tripucka's 35 points.[8]

Regular season

The Irish suffered an early setback as senior co-captain Hanzlik missed several games with a dislocated finger,[9][7] but fared well, compiling a 6–0 record in his absence, including a marquee win against UCLA.[10] The Irish won the contest behind clutch free throws and defense from freshman John Paxson.[11] After the team's fast start, The Irish found themselves ranked third in the country and facing second-ranked Kentucky at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Despite the Wildcats missing starters Sam Bowie and Dirk Minniefield, the Irish lost the game 80–86.[12] A January loss to San Francisco left the Irish on a two-game losing streak.[13] The highlight of the Irish's season came on February 27, 1980 when they upset top-ranked DePaul 76–74 in double-overtime. The Irish were led by Kelly Tripucka's 28 points and the win was sealed by two free throws by Orlando Woolridge. The Irish were able to overcome a big scoring push by future NBA All-Stars Mark Aguirre (28 points) and Terry Cummings (16).[14][15] A regular-season finale 62–54 win at Dayton raised the Irish's record to 22–5.[16]

Roster

1979–80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 12 Rich Branning 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Huntington Beach, California G 42 Bill Hanzlik 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Beloit, Wisconsin F 22 Kevin Hawkins 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Los Angeles, California G 11 Tim Healy 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Ft. Lauderdale, Florida F 30 Tracy Jackson 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Silver Spring, Maryland G 15 Mike Mitchell 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So San Bruno, California G 23 John Paxson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Kettering, Ohio C 55 Gilbert Salinas 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr San Antonio, Texas F 44 Kelly Tripucka 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Essex Fells, New Jersey C 32 Orlando Woolridge 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Mansfield, Louisiana	Head coach Digger Phelps Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

NCAA Tournament

Notre Dame was selected for the 1980 NCAA Tournament and were the 4 seed in the Midwest Region, slated to play the winner of a first-round game between Missouri and San Jose State in Lincoln, Nebraska.[17] Fifth-seeded Missouri upset the Irish 87–84 in overtime behind senior Mark Dressler's 32 points, wasting a 29-point effort by Tracy Jackson.[18]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
December 1	No. 5	Valparaiso	W 92–66	1–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 3	No. 5	Iowa State	W 87–77	2–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 5	No. 4	at Northwestern	W 73–56	3–0	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
December 8	No. 4	Saint Louis	W 93–66	4–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 11	No. 4	No. 7 UCLA	W 77–74	5–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 13	No. 4	No. 7 St. Joseph's (IN)	W 79–58	6–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 22	No. 4	Fairfield	W 69–59	7–0	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
December 29	No. 3	No. 2 Kentucky	L 80–86	7–1	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
January 8	No. 7	at San Francisco	L 59–67	7–2	War Memorial Gymnasium  San Francisco, CA
January 10	No. 7	at Tulane	W 79–59	8–2	Avron B. Fogelman Arena  New Orleans, Louisiana
January 13	No. 7	at TCU	W 85–68	9–2	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum  Fort Worth, Texas
January 15	No. 8	Villanova	W 70–69	10–2	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 19	No. 8	at UCLA	W 80–73	11–2	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, California
January 23	No. 8	Canisius	W 84–63	12–2	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 26	No. 8	No. 15 Maryland	W 64–63	13–2	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
January 30	No. 8	at La Salle	W 64–63	13–3	Palestra  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 2	No. 8	Davidson	W 105–71	14–3	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 4	No. 8	Navy	W 67–53	15–3	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 6	No. 9	Manhattan	W 93–49	16–3	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 9	No. 9	North Carolina State	L 55–63	16–4	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 11	No. 9	San Francisco	W 78–66	17–4	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 13	No. 12	at Fordham	W 86–76	18–4	Rose Hill Gymnasium  Bronx, NY
February 16	No. 12	at South Carolina	W 90–66	19–4	Carolina Coliseum  Columbia, SC
February 20	No. 10	at Xavier	W 85–72	20–4	Riverfront Coliseum  Cincinnati, OH
February 24	No. 10	Marquette	L 74–77	20–5	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 27	No. 14	No. 1 DePaul	W 76–74	21–5	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
March 1	No. 14	at Dayton	W 62–54	22–5	UD Arena  Dayton, OH
NCAA Tournament
March 8	(4) No. 9	vs. (5) No. 16 Missouri NCAA Tournament • Second Round	L 84–87 ^OT	22–6	Bob Devaney Sports Center  Lincoln, NE
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

[19]

Players selected in NBA drafts

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1980	1	20	Bill Hanzlik	Seattle SuperSonics
1980	4	78	Rich Branning	Indiana Pacers
1981	1	6	Orlando Woolridge	Chicago Bulls
1981	1	12	Kelly Tripucka	Detroit Pistons
1981	2	25	Tracy Jackson	Boston Celtics
1981	8	167	Gilbert Salinas	Atlanta Hawks
1983	1	19	John Paxson	San Antonio Spurs
1983	5	98	Tim Andree	Chicago Bulls
1983	9	202	Bill Varner	Milwaukee Bucks

[20]

References

1. "Indiana no. 1 in preseason poll". The News-Press. November 16, 1979. p. 40. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "1979–80 Official Basketball Yearbook". Street & Smith's Official Yearbook. New York City: Condé Nast Publications. October 1979. pp. 26, 73.
3. Francisco, Joel (May 26, 2009). "Many players succeeded after '79 game". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
4. "Golden dome shines brightly for Varner". Pittsburgh Press. June 5, 1979. p. 20. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Goldaper, Sam (November 25, 1979). "A Preview of the 20 Top College Basketball Teams". The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
6. "The Top 20". Sports Illustrated. December 1, 1980. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
7. "Notre Dame's pied piper plays sweet Irish tune". Indianapolis News. December 28, 1979. p. 24. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Notre Dame 'outsmarts' Russians". The Dispatch. November 16, 1979. p. 23. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Bill Hanzlik to sit out UCLA tilt". Indianapolis Star. December 11, 1979. p. 31. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Notre Dame-UCLA better than expected". Indianapolis Star. December 13, 1979. p. 53. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Irish rookie sinks 4 free throws, UCLA". Detroit Free Press. December 13, 1979. p. 53. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Bowie-less Kentucky impressed Irish coach". The Paducah Sun. December 31, 1979. p. 15. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "San Francisco center's about face stuns Notre Dame". Chillicothe Gazette. January 9, 1980. p. 17. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "Woolridge free throws spark Irish past DePaul". The Pantagraph. February 28, 1980. p. 11. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
15. "Irish do unto DePaul as they have others". Decatur Daily Review. February 28, 1980. p. 13. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
16. "Notre Dame bounces Dayton with late surge". The Cincinnati Enquirer. March 2, 1980. p. 33. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
17. "Tourney a matter of momentum". South Bend Tribune. March 4, 1980. p. 26. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
18. "Missouri stuns Irish in overtime". Kokomo Tribune. March 9, 1980. p. 22. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
19. "1979-80 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
20. "Notre Dame draft history at basketball-reference.com". Retrieved March 3, 2019.