| Year: | 1981 |
| Conference: | Southwest Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 9 |
| Arena: | HemisFair Arena |
| City: | San Antonio, Texas |
| Champions: | Houston |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Coach: | Guy Lewis |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mvp: | Rob Williams |
| Mvpteam: | Houston |
The 1981 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 5–7 at HemisFair Arena in San Antonio, Texas. The first round took place March 2 at the higher seeded campus sites.[1] [2]
Number 2 seed Houston defeated 6 seed 84-59 to win their 2nd championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA tournament.
The tournament consisted of 9 teams in a single-elimination tournament. The 3 seed received a bye to the Quarterfinals and the 1 and 2 seed received a bye to the Semifinals.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
| Place | Seed | Team | Conference | Overall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | % | W | L | % | ||||
| Arkansas | |||||||||
| Houston | |||||||||
| Texas Tech | |||||||||
| SMU | |||||||||
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Round | |||||
| Mar 2 | 6 Texas | 58-44 | 7 Rice | at Texas | |
| 4 Texas Tech | 80-58 | 9 SMU | at Texas Tech | ||
| 8 TCU | 62-60 | 5 Texas A&M | at Texas A&M | ||
| Quarterfinals | |||||
| Mar 5 | 6 Texas | 66-58 | 4 Texas Tech | ||
| 8 TCU | 56-47 | 3 Baylor | |||
| Semifinals | |||||
| Mar 6 | 6 Texas | 76-73 | 1 Arkansas | ||
| 2 Houston | 73-53 | 8 TCU | |||
| Finals | |||||
| Mar 7 | 2 Houston | 84-59 | 6 Texas | ||