1979–80 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team

American college basketball season

1979–80 Tennessee Volunteers basketball

NCAA tournament, Second round
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	18–11 (12–6 SEC)
Head coach	Don DeVoe (2nd season)
Home arena	Stokely Athletic Center
Seasons ← 1978–79 1980–81 →

1979–80 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 Kentucky	15	–	3	.833	29	–	6	.829
No. 3 LSU †	14	–	4	.778	26	–	6	.813
Alabama	12	–	6	.667	18	–	12	.600
Tennessee	12	–	6	.667	18	–	11	.621
Ole Miss	9	–	9	.500	17	–	13	.567
Mississippi State	7	–	11	.389	13	–	14	.481
Vanderbilt	7	–	11	.389	13	–	13	.500
Georgia	7	–	11	.389	14	–	13	.519
Auburn	5	–	13	.278	10	–	18	.357
Florida	2	–	16	.111	7	–	21	.250

† 1980 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1979–80 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represented the University of Tennessee as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 1979–80 college basketball season. Led by second-year head coach Don DeVoe, the team played their home games at the Stokely Athletic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers finished with a record of 18–11 (12–6 SEC, T-3rd) and received an at-large bid to the 1980 NCAA tournament as the 7 seed in the East region. After an opening round win over No. 10 seed Furman, Tennessee was defeated by No. 2 seed Maryland, 86–75.

This was the second of five straight seasons of NCAA Tournament basketball for the Tennessee men's program.

Roster

1979–80 Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	14	Dale Ellis	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Marietta, Georgia
F	32	Reggie Johnson	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Atlanta, Georgia
F	44	Howard Wood	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Jr	Southampton, New York

Head coach

Don DeVoe (Ohio State)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
SEC tournament
Feb 28, 1980* Chesley-TPC		vs. Ole Miss Quarterfinals	L 74–76	17–10	BJCC Coliseum Birmingham, Alabama
NCAA tournament
Mar 6, 1980*	(7 E)	vs. (10 E) Furman First round	W 80–69	18–10	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Mar 8, 1980*	(7 E)	vs. (2 E) No. 8 Maryland Second round	L 75–86	18–11	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[3] ^[4]

Rankings

^[5]

NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	15	Reggie Johnson	San Antonio Spurs

^[6]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1979-80 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
^ "1979-80 Men's Basketball Roster". University of Tennessee Athletics. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
^ "1979-80 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Tennessee Athletics. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
^ "2019-20 Tennessee Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Tennessee Athletics. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 867–868. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "1980 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.

v t e Tennessee Volunteers basketball
Venues	Alumni Memorial Gym (1934–1958) Stokely Athletic Center (1958–1987) Thompson–Boling Arena (1987–present)
Rivalries	Kentucky Vanderbilt
Culture & lore	Gambling scandal "Rocky Top" Smokey
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 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