1980–81 Southern Jaguars basketball team

The 1980–81 Southern Jaguars basketball team represented Southern University during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Jaguars, led by head coach Carl Stewart, played their home games at the F. G. Clark Center and were members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They finished the season 17–11, 8–4 in SWAC play to finish in first place. They were champions of the SWAC tournament to earn an automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA tournament where they lost in the opening round to No. 6 seed Wichita State. This season marked the first appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Southern men's basketball program.

Schedule
!colspan=9 style=| Regular season

!colspan=9 style=| 1981 SWAC tournament

!colspan=9 style=|1981 NCAA tournament