1980-1981 UAB Blazers Men's Basketball team

The 1980-1981 UAB Blazers men's basketball team represented UAB as a member of the Sun Belt Conference during the 1980-81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

The Blazers were coached by Gene Bartow and played their home games at BJCC Coliseum in the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

The Blazers finished the regular season with a 19-7 overall and finished in a three way tie for 1st place in the Sun Belt with a 9-3 in conference play. At the conference tournament in Jacksonville, Florida 3rd seeded UAB defeated 6th seed UNCC (80-64) & 2nd seed South Alabama (86-59) to advance to the Championship against top seed VCU for the second year in a row. In a thrilling game, the once again fell to the Rams (61-62).

UAB was awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, receiving the 7th seed in the Mideast Region. The Blazers first ever two NCAA games took place at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, AL. In the first round, UAB was matched up with 10 seed Western Kentucky. The Blazers cruised by the Hilltoppers 93-68 to setup a rematch with 2 seed Kentucky, who had defeated UAB 61-53 in a December game played in Lexington, KY. The Blazers exacted revenge for the regular season loss, defeating the Wildcats 69-62. The victory propelled UAB to its first Sweet Sixteen, an amazing accomplishment for a third year program.

The Mideast Regional was played in Bloomington, Indiana. UAB squared off with the host and 3rd seed Indiana Hoosiers in the regional semi-finals. The Hoosiers and the highly partisan crowd proved too much to overcome and the Blazers season ended with a hard fought 87-72 loss to the eventual national champions. After the game, Indiana Coach Bob Knight praised the Blazers in an interview with Sports Illustrated: "Those UAB kids will have my undying respect for how hard they played the game."

The Blazers Sweet Sixteen appearance and its final 23-9 record put UAB basketball on the national basketball map.