1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season
For the 1979-80 season, head coach Lou Henson returned everyone from a team that finished with 19 wins. The team gave the head coach his first of 11, 20-win seasons at Illinois. That year, Illinois made its first postseason appearance since 1963, finishing third in the NIT. During the course of the season, the Illini would defeat eventual NCAA Tournament Champion, Louisville

Schedule
Source

!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season

!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"| Big Ten regular season

!colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"| National Invitation Tournament



Awards and honors

 * Eddie Johnson
 * Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
 * Team Most Valuable Player