Basketball History Basketball Records All-Time Head Coaches ------- 131 30-Point Club ------------------- 192 All-Time Jersey Numbers------ 162 1,000-Point Club --------------- 195 All-Time Lettermen ------------ 157 20-Rebound Club -------------- 194 All-Time Records 500-Rebound Club ------------ 198 Against Opponents ------------- 147 150-Blocked Shots Clubs ----- 199 All-Time Records by Site ------ 149 200-Steals Clubs ---------------- 199 All-Time Results ---------------- 132 300-Assists Clubs --------------- 199 All-Time Starting Lineups----- 160 Annual Leaders ----------------- 190 Cougar All-Americans --------- 170 C-USA Tournament Records -- 188 Cougar All-Conference Players -- 172 Hofheinz Pavilion Records ---- 186 Cougar Almanac ---------------- 126 Attendance Records ------------- 187 Cougar Greats ------------------- 164 Individual Game Records 180-181 Cougar Olympians ------------- 175 Individual Season Records181-182 Cougars In The NBA ---------- 177 Individual Career Records182-183 Cougars In The NBA Draft --- 176 NCAA & NIT Records -------- 189 Game of the Century ---------- 129 Team Single Game Records --- 183 Four-Year Lettermen ----------- 159 Team Single Season Records -- 184 Historical Highlights ----- 122-125 The Last Time ------------------ 200 UH in Top 25------------------- 153 Top Opponent Performances - 193 UH versus Top 25 Teams - 155-156 Year-by-Year Record ------ 130-131 Cougar Historical Highlights rom College Basketball’s Game-of-the-Century to five NCAA Final Four appearances, to one of college basketball’s most famous teams, to producing three of the greatest players of all time, to winning conference championships in four different leagues... H How could a group of World War II veterans attending I the University of Houston on the GI Bill know a meeting S T with former Physical Education chairman Harry Fouke O R would have such an impact? They went to the meeting de- Y termined to convince Fouke that the University should field an intercollegiate athletics program. Persuaded to begin a program, Fouke talked fellow Physi- cal Education professor Alden Pasche into serving as head coach for the Cougars. Tryouts were held in September 1945, and three months later Houston was competing as a member of the Lone Star Conference. 1940s the year with an overall 21.1 scoring av- 1950s The Cougars played their first game erage. One of the nation’s best leagues in against defending LSC champion, North Proving that their first conference the 1950s, the Missouri Valley Confer- Texas. The starting lineup that night con- championship wasn’t a fluke, the Cougars ence featured teams that were ranked na- sisted of team captain and center Guy V. won a second LSC championship the fol- tionally among the top five 13 times be- Lewis, forwards Jack Wagner and Dick lowing year as Lewis averaged 19.7 points tween 1950-60. The Cougars played Pratt, along with guards Willie Wells and per game and Wells added 10.2 points their first game against a nationally- Charlie Carpenter. per contest. Houston finished the 1946- ranked team in 1950-51, when they The Cougars served notice early 47 season with a 15-7 overall record and played fifth-ranked Bradley. Later that that they would be tough to handle as was 11-1 in LCS play. season, Houston faced top-ranked Okla- they defeated North Texas, 62-35. Lewis After spending three years as a homa State, which was coached by the led the Cougars with 19 points. Wells member of the Lone Star Conference, legendary Henry Iba on February 21. The added 16 points and Pratt, who scored Houston joined the Gulf Coast Confer- Cougars also faced top-ranked Cincinnati Houston’s first field goal, ended the game ence in 1949-50 and won its third con- and second-ranked Bradley in back-to- with 12. ference championship in five seasons. The back games twice in 1959-60. Houston went on to finish the sea- Cougars ended that year with a 16-7 over- In 1955-56, Houston was ranked son with a 10-4 record and won the Lone all record and were 6-0 in the GCC be- in the national wire service polls for the Star Conference with an 8-2 league fore joining the Missouri Valley Confer- first time. The Cougars were ranked 18th record. Lewis set a conference record with ence in 1950. on February 18, climbed as high as num- 210 points in 10 league games and ended ber 14 and finished the season ranked 122 Cougar Historical Highlights Houston returned to the NCAA Tourna- cans that included Ollie Taylor, point ment in 1965 and began a streak of four guard Poo Welch, 6-8 standout Dwight consecutive NCAA berths. Davis and Louis Dunbar. Taylor led the In 1964, Lewis signed two of the Cougars to the NCAA Sweet 16 finish in first three African-American athletes in 1969-70. Welch and Davis led Houston school history: Elvin Hayes and Don to another NCAA Sweet 16 the follow- Chaney. Hayes, the only three-time, first- ing year. team All-American in school history, Houston played in its third straight combined with Chaney, a 1968 All- NCAA Tournament in 1971-72, and American, to lead Houston to its first two Dwight Jones played for the U.S. Olym- NCAA Final Four appearances in 1967 pic team later that summer. In 1972-73, and 1968. Houston played in the NCAA Tourna- H In 1968, the Cougars played in col- ment for a fourth straight year. That team I lege basketball’s most significant game of was led by Jones and Dunbar, a 6’10” S the 20th century, when second-ranked player who helped redefine the meaning T of versatility because he could play all five Houston played defending national O positions on the court. He took those Gary Phillips became the first Cougar to champion UCLA in the Astrodome on R January 20, 1968. skills and played 25 years with the Harlem earn All-American honors in 1960-61. Y Not only did the game have two Globetrotters. 17th by the Associated Press. outstanding teams, but it also featured In 1975-76, Houston began play- In addition to its outstanding teams, two consensus All-Americans and future ing in the Southwest Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference was full Naismith Hall of Fame players in the first competed against Arkansas, Baylor, Rice, of outstanding players and produced 28 nationally televised regular season game. SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU and All-American performers during the If that wasn’t enough, it also marked the 1950s. Those players included Houston’s first game played in a domed stadium Gary Phillips, three-time national Player- with an attendance over 50,000 people. of-the-Year Oscar Robertson of Cincin- The contest lived up to all of its pre- nati and former Chicago Bulls star Chet game hype, as Hayes sank two free throws Walker of Bradley. in the final 29 seconds to give the Cou- Houston’s best finish in the league’s gars a 71-69 victory. After beating the standings came in 1955-56, when the Bruins, Houston finished the 1968 regu- Cougars won their only MVC champi- lar season with a 28-0 record and was onship in Pasche’s final season as head named the Associated Press and UPI wire coach. That team finished with a 19-7 service national champion. overall record and was the school’s first Playing without their starting point team to play in the NCAA Tournament. guard George Reynolds in the NCAA After the 1956 NCAA Tournament, Tournament, the Cougars advanced to three-year assistant coach and former their second straight NCAA Final Four team captain, Guy V. Lewis, replaced before falling to UCLA in a semifinal Pasche and spent the next 30 years help- game, 101-69, as the Bruins used a box- ing revolutionize intercollegiate basket- and-one defense to handcuff Hayes. ball. Houston ended the season as the first A three-time, First- team in school history to win 30 games Team All-American, 1960s with a 31-2 record. Elvin Hayes put the Houston left the Missouri Valley UH basketball pro- Conference in 1960 and became a na- 1970s gram on the national tional powerhouse as an independent Houston’s national success contin- map when he led during the next decade. The Cougars ued in the 1970s as the Cougars opened the Cougars to two played in six postseason tournaments be- the decade with four straight NCAA NCAA Final Four appearances in 1967 tween 1960 and 1968. Tournament appearances before 1975-76. and 1968. He also scored 29 points to help Houston opened the decade play- Early in the decade, the Cougars Houston upset UCLA January 20, 1968 ing in the NCAA Tournament in 1960- featured a lineup of perennial All-Ameri- at the Astrodome. 61 and played in the NIT in 1961-62. 123 Cougar Historical Highlights Led by All-Americans Clyde law. They joined Upchurch and led the Consensus All-American Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, Phi Cougars to a 25-6 record. Otis Birdsong was Slama Jama finished the season with a 31- Following a 1993 NIT appearance, named the South- 3 record after putting together a 26-game Foster resigned as head coach, and Alvin west Conference winning streak and ending the regular Brooks replaced him after serving as an Player-of-the- season ranked Number One. Phi Slama assistant coach at UH for seven years. Decade after lead- Jama also recorded a perfect 16-0 South- Brooks enjoyed his best season as a head ing Houston to west Conference record while winning the coach in 1995-96 when he led Houston the 1977 NIT league’s regular season and SWC Postsea- to a 17-10 record and a second-place fin- Champion- son Classic championships.