UCLA 101, Houston 69

One of my favorite sporting events of all time. Burned in my memory forever.

We all know about UCLA losing to Houston 71-69 in the Astrodome back in January, 1968. For Houston fans, alumni, Bruin haters, and former Cougar players, especially Elvin Hayes, the story ends there.

Fat chance, revisionists.

After the first meeting, Cougar fans and Houston players went overboard with their joy. Hayes started planning for what would be a somewhat successful pro career. Center Ken Spain was interviewed for The Dating Game. All others, except for coach Guy Lewis, always a class act, went around telling media and fans how wonderful they were. And people believed them. One wire service, which back then crowned a national champion before the post season, awarded their title to the Cougars. Elvin Hayes won several Player of the Year awards. T-shirts proclaiming the Cougars national champions appeared on the University of Houston campus.

John Mackey, former Baltimore Colts star, told NFL Films “If you think you’ve got a game won before it’s played, you’ve got a problem. (Before Super Bowl III) We had a biiiii-ig problem!”

So did the University of Houston Cougars.

A year earlier, Houston had lost to UCLA in the National Semi-Finals, which is what it was called before being re-named The Final Four. Even though UCLA won relatively easy, Hayes had stated that “They didn’t impress me.” He failed to realize that the point was to win the game, and not to try to impress any one person. After the Astrodome win, Hayes’ anti-UCLA rhetoric intensified. Adolph Rupp, longtime Kentucky coach who had all of one black player in his 40+ year stint at UK, said that the Bruins were “Overrated and complacent.” He predicted that the Cougars would win the title easily.

Fat Chance, oh Great Sage.

Overlooked was the fact that the Semis and Finals would be played in….Los Angeles, in a real basketball environment. Also overlooked was the fact that the Bruins would have something on their side that Houston couldn’t have bought. The Revenge Motivation. More often than not, a winning psychological edge for a motivated team.

In the Astrodome game, UCLA coach John Wooden played a basic man-to-man defense. He did not want to tip off what he might do in a playoff game. Even at that, the Bruins lost by only two. Some feel that they should have won the game. It was certainly winnable, but hiding future strategy was understandable, and outside of losing their poll ranking at the top, a loss to Houston in January was virtually meaningless.

When the rematch came, people wondered how many overtimes they would play. With seating at a limited 15,000, the game became a hot ticket. Cougar boosters came in droves, wearing their T-shirts, carrying signs, and bringing smug, superior attitudes with them. Before the game, the U of H student body president was arrested for trying to scalp tickets. That was the beginning. A precursor to the Cougars’ Lost Weekend.

UCLA used a Diamond-and-One defense, boxing Elvin Hayes the entire game, rendering him ineffective. He had only 10 points for the night. The Cougars never led. The only time the game was tied was when it was 0-0. At one point late in the second half, the Bruins led by 40. That’s as in forty points. The trash-talking Houston players became stone silent. With every time out, the Cougars would go to the bench with a shocked look on their face like they had no idea what was going on.

When it was obvious how this would turn out, coach Wooden emptied his bench, saving Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) for last, who got a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd. That included what was left of the Houston rooting section. When Hayes was pulled a little later, there was barely any crowd reaction for the Player of the Year.

To epitomize how the game went for Houston, Shasta, the live cougar mascot, fell asleep in his cage during the latter part of the game.

Cougar coach Guy Lewis said that it was the greatest exhibition of basketball that he ever saw in his life. The rest of the team would not talk to reporters after the game. So much for all the talking.

Years later, Cougar Don Chaney, one of sports’ true class acts, told the L.A. Times that his team got “Full of themselves” after the Astrodome win.

For many years afterward, Elvin Hayes would not talk about the rematch. Any mention of his college career would end with the Astrodome game. In recent years, he has opened up more about the semifinal game.

The next night, UCLA won it’s fourth title in 5 years when they beat North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith 78-66. Houston lost it’s second in a row in the Consolation game to Ohio State, 89-88. Again, they would not talk to the media afterwards.

Because of this, the wire service that awarded national championships before the post season stopped the practice.

It was a memorable weekend for both the Bruins and the Cougars. And as different as night and day.