The
Game of the Century in college
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
was an
historical NCAA game between the
University of HoustonThe University of Houston is a public research university located in Houston and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System...
CougarsThe Houston Cougars men's basketball team represents the University of Houston in Houston, Texas in U.S. NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The university is a member of Conference USA. The team last played in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 1992, and are tied for...
and the
UCLAThe University of California, Los Angeles is a research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and is the second-oldest general-purpose campus in the University of California system...
BruinsThe UCLA Bruins men's basketball program, established in 1920, owns a record 11 NCAA championships. UCLA teams coached by John Wooden won 10 titles in 12 seasons from 1964 to 1975, including 7 straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA went undefeated a record 4 times, in 1964, 1967, 1972, and 1973...
played on January 20, 1968 at the Astrodome in
Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2008 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of...
. It was the first NCAA regular season game broadcast nationwide in prime time. It established college basketball as a sports commodity on television and paved the way for the modern "March Madness" television coverage.
The
UCLA BruinsThe UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-10 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation...
were the dominant NCAA men's basketball program of the era, winning
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball ChampionshipThe NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams. college basketball teams in the United States...
s in 1964, 1965, and 1967.
The
Game of the Century in college
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
was an
historical NCAA game between the
University of HoustonThe University of Houston is a public research university located in Houston and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System...
CougarsThe Houston Cougars men's basketball team represents the University of Houston in Houston, Texas in U.S. NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The university is a member of Conference USA. The team last played in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 1992, and are tied for...
and the
UCLAThe University of California, Los Angeles is a research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and is the second-oldest general-purpose campus in the University of California system...
BruinsThe UCLA Bruins men's basketball program, established in 1920, owns a record 11 NCAA championships. UCLA teams coached by John Wooden won 10 titles in 12 seasons from 1964 to 1975, including 7 straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA went undefeated a record 4 times, in 1964, 1967, 1972, and 1973...
played on January 20, 1968 at the Astrodome in
Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2008 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of...
. It was the first NCAA regular season game broadcast nationwide in prime time. It established college basketball as a sports commodity on television and paved the way for the modern "March Madness" television coverage.
History
The
UCLA BruinsThe UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-10 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation...
were the dominant NCAA men's basketball program of the era, winning
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball ChampionshipThe NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams. college basketball teams in the United States...
s in 1964, 1965, and 1967.
Houston CougarsHouston Cougars is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. After the dissolution of the Southwest Conference in 1996, in which these teams were a member, the Cougars joined...
coach Guy V. Lewis wanted to prove his program's worth to his critics, so he decided to schedule UCLA. Houston and UCLA had met in the previous season in the semi finals of the
1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball TournamentThe 1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 23 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1967, and ended with the championship game on March 25 in Louisville, Kentucky...
. UCLA had prevailed against Houston 73–58, and won that championship.
The Game
Ted Nance, the sports information director for the University of Houston, put the schedule together. UCLA sports information director J.D. Morgan talked Bruin head coach
John WoodenJohn Robert Wooden is a retired American basketball coach. He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and as a coach . He was the first person ever enshrined in both categories; only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have since been so honored...
into the game by explaining how great it would be for college basketball. Nance put advertisements in the Cougar football programs touting the game as the "Game of the Century."
The game was televised nationally via a
syndicationIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in countries where television is scheduled by networks with local affiliates, particularly in the United States...
package through the
TVS Television NetworkThe TVS Television Network, or TVS for short, was a syndicator of American sports programming. It was one of several "occasional" national television networks that sprang up in the early 1960s to take advantage of the establishment of independent television stations and relaxation of the AT&T...
, with
Dick EnbergRichard Alan "Dick" Enberg is an American sportscaster currently employed by CBS and ESPN. His duties include National Football League and NCAA basketball telecasts on CBS and coverage of all four Grand Slam professional tennis tournaments for ESPN and ESPN2...
announcing and
Bob PettitRobert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks . He was the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970...
providing color commentary. Morgan had insisted to TVS owner Eddie Einhorn that TVS use their broadcaster. The basketball floor actually came from the
Los Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaThe Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena is a multipurpose sports arena in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at Exposition Park. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum just south of the campus of the University of Southern California.-History:The Los Angeles...
.
The Bruins arrived in Houston with a 47-game, two-and-a-half-season winning streak. The Cougars were also undefeated since the last meeting between the two teams. Lew Alcindor had a scratch on the cornea of his eye, acquired on court when he got struck by Ted Henderson of Cal in a rebound battle.
The first half between the AP #1 Bruins and AP #2 Cougars closed with the Cougars up by three points. The second half saw the tension between the squads highlighted within the matchup of Houston's
Elvin HayesElvin Ernest Hayes is a retired American basketball player. He is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.-Early years:...
and UCLA's Lew Alcindor. Hayes, a 6-foot-9 forward, was not directly matched against the 7–2 Alcindor, but he did block three of Alcindor's shots, and the crowd roared his nickname, "Big E."
With two minutes to go and the score tied by
Lucius AllenLucius Oliver Allen, Jr. is a former professional basketball player. Prior to his NBA career, he was part of one of John Wooden's legendary UCLA teams. He was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1st round of the 1969 NBA Draft and retired in 1979.Allen, played 10 years in the NBA for four...
free throws at 69–69, Elvin Hayes took a shot and was fouled by Bruin reserve Jim Nielsen. Hayes, playing with four fouls in the second half, scored two free throws. The Bruins still had time to score, but an attempted basket by Lucius Allen would not drop.
In the end, the Cougars pulled the upset, 71–69, ending the Bruins' 47-game winning streak.
Aftermath
Up to that point only NCAA post-season games had been broadcast nationally, so there was much skepticism regarding where the broadcast would take the non-profit organization's policy. The broadcast drew a vast television audience in addition to the 52,693 fans who had filled the Astrodome for its first basketball game.
This would be the worst performance of Lew Alcindor's college career. It was the only time he shot less than 50% from the field.
Neither team would lose another game for the rest of the season. The teams faced off again later that season in the
1968 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball TournamentThe 1968 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 23 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1968, and ended with the championship game on March 23 in Los Angeles, California...
semi finals, with the now #2 ranked Bruins getting their revenge 101-69 against the #1 ranked Cougars and advancing to defeat the
North Carolina Tar HeelsThe North Carolina Tar Heels are the athletic teams for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State...
78-55 for the 1968 title. Houston also lost the consolation game to Ohio State. These games were at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, on the same floor used in the Astrodome game. Houston would open their 1968-1969 season at the Sports Arena, losing to USC on the same floor.
The
1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball TournamentThe 1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1971, and ended with the championship game on March 27 in Houston, Texas...
was held at the Astrodome following the success of the game and drew more than 31,000 spectators for both the semi-finals and championship. The
1982 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball TournamentThe 1982 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1982, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in New Orleans, Louisiana...
was held at the
Louisiana SuperdomeThe Louisiana Superdome, often informally referred to simply as the Superdome, The Dome or the New Orleans Superdome is a large, multi-purpose sports and exhibition facility located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana...
. Eventually, most
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball ChampionshipThe NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams. college basketball teams in the United States...
Final Fours were awarded only to host cities with domed stadiums, and starting with the
1997 tournamentThe 1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1997, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in...
, only domed stadiums would be considered for the Final Four.
UCLA and Houston played again in 1969 at
Pauley PavilionEdwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams...
for the regular season rematch. UCLA won 100-64. UCLA would go on to win seven more NCAA championships. Guy Lewis would bring his Phi Slama Jama teams to the NCAA final four in 1982-1984.
In 2007, both Guy Lewis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) were inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Significance
Previously, only NCAA post-season games were broadcast on national television, but only on evidence that broadcasters were going to make a profit from the broadcasts. The "Game of the Century" between the Houston Cougars and the UCLA Bruins proved that Americans were willing to watch college basketball games during the regular seasons. Eddie Einhorn paid $27,000 for the broadcast rights on TVS. In the end, Einhorn signed up 120 stations, many of which would infuriate the networks they were affiliated with by canceling their regular programming to show the game.
Both schools received $125,000 for the game.
This was more than the 1968 NCAA tournament payout of $31,781.
After January 20th, 1968, the NCAA was able to broadcast college sports matchups at any time of the season, gradually allowing them to have more influence over future broadcast scheduling and introducing more Americans through media to the possibility of higher education opportunities provided by the NCAA. In 1969, NBC became the first major network to broadcast the championship game, at a cost of more than $500,000. In 2008, the current NCAA deal with CBS to televise the entire tournament is worth 1000 times that.
The January 1968 cover of
Sports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the United States. It was the first magazine with circulation over one...
depicted the game with Houston's
Elvin HayesElvin Ernest Hayes is a retired American basketball player. He is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.-Early years:...
shooting over UCLA's Lew Alcindor.
External links