1981 Midwestern City Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1981 Midwestern City Conference men's basketball tournament (now known as the Horizon League men's basketball tournament) was held March 3–5 at campus sites (quarterfinals), Frederickson Fieldhouse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (semifinals), and Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio (finals).

1981 Midwestern City Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1980–81
Teams	7
Finals site	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Champions	Oklahoma City (1st title)
Winning coach	Ken Trickey (1st title)
MVP	Anthony Hicks (Xavier)
Midwestern City Conference men's basketball tournaments

1980–81 Midwestern City Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Xavier	8	–	3		.727			12	–	16		.429
Loyola-Chicago	7	–	4		.636			13	–	15		.464
Oklahoma City †	7	–	4		.636			14	–	15		.483
Oral Roberts	6	–	5		.545			11	–	16		.407
Evansville	6	–	5		.545			19	–	9		.679
Detroit	1	–	5		.167			9	–	18		.333
Butler	1	–	10		.091			5	–	22		.185
† 1981 MCC tournament winner

Oklahoma City defeated Xavier in the championship game, 82–76, to win their first MCC/Horizon League men's basketball tournament.

The Chiefs, however, did not receive a bid to the 1981 NCAA tournament.

Format

All seven conference members participated in the tournament and were seeded based on regular season conference records. The top seed (Xavier) was given a bye into the semifinal round while the remaining six teams were placed into the initial quarterfinal round.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Friday, March 3					Semifinals Saturday, March 4					Championship Sunday, March 5
						1	Xavier	72
						5	Evansville	69
	5	Evansville	77
	4	Oral Roberts	71
											1	Xavier	76
											2	Oklahoma City	82
	3	Loyola–Chicago	86
	6	Detroit	80
						3	Loyola–Chicago	71
						2	Oklahoma City	73
	7	Butler	69
	2	Oklahoma City	86