1981 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1981 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament of the Ohio Valley Conference during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was held March 5–6, 1981. The semifinals and finals took place at E. A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Top seed Western Kentucky won the tournament, defeating Murray State in the championship game, and received the Ohio Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Hilltoppers drew a 10 seed in the Mideast region, facing the 7 seed UAB.

1981 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1980–81
Teams	4
Site	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, Kentucky
Champions	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (10th title)
Winning coach	Clem Haskins (1st title)
Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournaments

1980–81 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Western Kentucky †	12	–	2		.857			21	–	8		.724
Murray State	10	–	4		.714			17	–	10		.630
Middle Tennessee	9	–	5		.643			18	–	9		.667
Austin Peay	7	–	7		.500			14	–	13		.519
Eastern Kentucky	7	–	7		.500			10	–	16		.385
Akron	5	–	9		.357			8	–	18		.308
Morehead State	4	–	10		.286			11	–	15		.423
Tennessee Tech	2	–	12		.143			6	–	20		.231
† 1981 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Format

The top four eligible men's basketball teams in the Ohio Valley Conference received a berth in the conference tournament. After the 14-game conference season, teams were seeded by conference record. The bottom four teams in the standings did not participate.

Bracket

	Semifinals March 5					Finals March 6
	1	Western Kentucky	92
	4	Austin Peay	71
						1	Western Kentucky	81
						2	Murray State	67
	3	Middle Tennessee	60
	2	Murray State	62