On this day in 1967, the Houston Cougars beat Illinois 54-46. Elvin Hayes had 25 points and 20 rebounds.
Houston boasted a lineup that averaged almost 6’7″ a man, but had only two starters back – proven stars Hayes and Don Chaney. The team went on a South American tour in the summer of 1967 that helped develop younger players like Theodis Lee and Ken Spain.
After starting with three blowouts at home, the second-ranked Cougars traveled to play Illinois in Champaign. The Illini had a tumultuous year, dealing with the fallout from a slush-fund scandal that culminated in the firing of the head coaches of the football and basketball programs in March. Illinois faced expulsion from the Big Ten due to the scandal, and the school brought back former letterman Harvard “Harv” Schmidt to coach the 1967-68 team.
The game was a big deal in Champaign and was the home opener. The student newspaper, the Daily Illini, spent days previewing it. The Big Ten chose the game as an experiment in using three referees on the floor instead of the regular two, a practice that would not become standard in NCAA games until the late 1970s. The game would also be UH’s first road game with the dunk being outlawed. The day before leaving for Illinois, Houston beat North Dakota State. In the game, Elvin Hayes dunked it, and the bucket was allowed to stand. The Delmar Fieldhouse crowd gave ref Shorty Lawson a standing ovation for allowing it.
The Cougars started the afternoon game sleepily and committed 19 turnovers in the first half. Illinois was aggressive on defense, forcing many of those turnovers, but then stalled on offense. In the first half, the Illini passed up a lot of good shots for bad shots. And as Houston Post David Fink reported, “then they missed the bad ones.” The Coogs led 25-18 at the half.
The home team ended up taking 72 shots, hitting only 22 (30.6%), while UH shot 20/46 (43.5%). The Big E made five of Houston’s last seven baskets.
Because Illinois dictated the pace of the game, Houston was unable to get out and run, which lessened the effect of the third official.
