Overall: 17-13, .567 W-L% (113th of 260)
Conference: 8-10, 6th in Big Ten (Schedule and Results)
Coach: Johnny Orr (17-13)
PS/G: 72.1 (124th of 260) ▪ PA/G: 68.1 (75th of 260)
SRS: 13.71 (15th of 260) ▪ SOS: 9.64 (11th of 260)
| G | Date | Type | Opponent | Conf | Tm | Opp | OT | W | L | Streak | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sat, Dec 1, 1979 | REG | Massachusetts | EAA | W | 112 | 64 | 1 | 0 | W 1 | ||
| 2 | Mon, Dec 3, 1979 | REG | Central Michigan | MAC | W | 96 | 78 | 2 | 0 | W 2 | ||
| 3 | Wed, Dec 5, 1979 | REG | @ | Toledo | MAC | L | 64 | 67 | 2 | 1 | L 1 | |
| 4 | Sat, Dec 8, 1979 | REG | @ | Marquette | Ind | W | 63 | 60 | 3 | 1 | W 1 | |
| 5 | Wed, Dec 12, 1979 | REG | @ | Detroit Mercy | Ind | W | 85 | 72 | 4 | 1 | W 2 | |
| 6 | Sat, Dec 15, 1979 | REG | Dayton | Ind | W | 69 | 54 | 5 | 1 | W 3 | ||
| 7 | Sat, Dec 22, 1979 | REG | Western Michigan | MAC | W | 83 | 64 | 6 | 1 | W 4 | ||
| 8 | Fri, Dec 28, 1979 | REG | N | Mississippi | SEC | L | 66 | 71 | 6 | 2 | L 1 | |
| 9 | Sat, Dec 29, 1979 | REG | N | Tulane | Metro | W | 72 | 71 | 7 | 2 | W 1 | |
| 10 | Thu, Jan 3, 1980 | REG | Minnesota | Big Ten | W | 71 | 67 | 8 | 2 | W 2 | ||
| 11 | Sat, Jan 5, 1980 | REG | Iowa | Big Ten | W | 68 | 65 | 9 | 2 | W 3 | ||
| 12 | Thu, Jan 10, 1980 | REG | @ | Indiana | Big Ten | L | 61 | 63 | OT | 9 | 3 | L 1 |
| 13 | Sat, Jan 12, 1980 | REG | @ | Purdue | Big Ten | L | 61 | 63 | 9 | 4 | L 2 | |
| 14 | Thu, Jan 17, 1980 | REG | @ | Illinois | Big Ten | L | 69 | 80 | 9 | 5 | L 3 | |
| 15 | Sat, Jan 19, 1980 | REG | Ohio State | Big Ten | W | 75 | 74 | 10 | 5 | W 1 | ||
| 16 | Thu, Jan 24, 1980 | REG | Michigan State | Big Ten | L | 58 | 59 | 10 | 6 | L 1 | ||
| 17 | Sat, Jan 26, 1980 | REG | @ | Northwestern | Big Ten | L | 82 | 85 | 10 | 7 | L 2 | |
| 18 | Thu, Jan 31, 1980 | REG | @ | Wisconsin | Big Ten | W | 73 | 69 | 11 | 7 | W 1 | |
| 19 | Sat, Feb 2, 1980 | REG | Northwestern | Big Ten | W | 70 | 57 | 12 | 7 | W 2 | ||
| 20 | Thu, Feb 7, 1980 | REG | @ | Ohio State | Big Ten | L | 63 | 66 | 12 | 8 | L 1 | |
| 21 | Sat, Feb 9, 1980 | REG | Wisconsin | Big Ten | W | 68 | 59 | 13 | 8 | W 1 | ||
| 22 | Thu, Feb 14, 1980 | REG | Illinois | Big Ten | W | 68 | 59 | 14 | 8 | W 2 | ||
| 23 | Sat, Feb 16, 1980 | REG | @ | Michigan State | Big Ten | L | 74 | 82 | 14 | 9 | L 1 | |
| 24 | Thu, Feb 21, 1980 | REG | Purdue | Big Ten | W | 75 | 64 | 15 | 9 | W 1 | ||
| 25 | Sat, Feb 23, 1980 | REG | Indiana | Big Ten | L | 61 | 65 | 15 | 10 | L 1 | ||
| 26 | Thu, Feb 28, 1980 | REG | @ | Iowa | Big Ten | L | 67 | 83 | 15 | 11 | L 2 | |
| 27 | Sat, Mar 1, 1980 | REG | @ | Minnesota | Big Ten | L | 67 | 68 | 15 | 12 | L 3 | |
| G | Date | Type | Opponent | Conf | Tm | Opp | OT | W | L | Streak | ||
| 28 | Thu, Mar 6, 1980 | NIT | Nebraska | Big 8 | W | 76 | 69 | 16 | 12 | W 1 | ||
| 29 | Mon, Mar 10, 1980 | NIT | Texas-El Paso | WAC | W | 79 | 65 | 17 | 12 | W 2 | ||
| 30 | Thu, Mar 13, 1980 | NIT | @ | Virginia | ACC | L | 68 | 79 | 17 | 13 | L 1 |