Michael Jordan and Elvin Hayes on The Big E's NCAA Game of the Century (1968): UCLA @ Houston | 1988

While an audience of awestruck students from San Marcos High School observed from the sidelines, host Michael Jordan and his guests loosened up for a while out on the court before settling down to discuss Elvin's career. One subject of interest to Michael was Elvin's favorite and most effective offensive weapon. Elvin, tell me about that classic turnaround jump shot. Where did you learn that? Well, Michael, in order to develop that shot when I was in high school, it was because the guys jumped, so I had to be able to get my shot off because I wasn't as tall as I am. And so I developed that shot in my backyard. And how I do it is that I just kind of turn my back to the guy and take a couple of bounces and always go to the right and just kind of drop it down. Elvin Hayes, the Big E. Over the years, Elvin's effortless-looking turnaround jump shot foiled and frustrated opposing players. The 6-foot-11-inch, 240-pound Hayes was capable of muscling up shots on the inside or firing away from long range. Did you ever dream about becoming a pro basketball player in the NBA? I guess, you know, playing professional basketball, I just wanted to make a team. I really never dreamed that I would ever accomplish or achieve any of the things which I achieved, but just being on the team, that's all I wanted. Well, in high school, you were the dominant basketball player, and then you graduated and you attended the University of Houston. How come? Well, because it was kind of like I'd gone to the University of Houston on kind of like a shoe-in because Don Chaney, whom they was highly recruiting at the time, we had won, let's say, a championship, but they really wanted Don. And then, all of a sudden, I had an opportunity. We went over to visit the university, and once I got there, they really didn't have a good basketball program. And I felt that if I'd gone to the University of Houston, and I did well, fine. If I didn't, nobody would ever know about it. Midway through his senior season, Elvin led Houston into a much-anticipated showdown in the Astrodome. The Cougars took on the number one-ranked UCLA Bruins, who possessed a 47-game winning streak and a dominating center named Lew Alcindor. Elvin, did you see that game as a personal battle between you and Lew Alcindor? Well, I think that the media sometimes hype and create a rivalry between two players, and I think that that's what happened with Kareem and I. I think that going into the game, it's kind of a situation that you know a player. You never want to focus on one player. But what happens, I think, you get into a game, it's going out to beat UCLA, but then all of a sudden, you want to outplay Jubal, so I really wanted to outplay him. And every time I played him, I wanted to destroy him. I felt that it was a personal thing. The opening tip-off, tip-off, the Houston Cougars in the light jerseys, the Bruins of UCLA in the dark-colored blue jerseys. That's Edgar Lacy with a tamper. From the opening moments of the game, it was obvious that Elvin was not to be denied. Alcindor, Hayes center. That's Hayes, 17-footer. Houston leads. Hayes, 20-footer. Hayes is open. Look at the move, and Hayes has it. Behind the scoring punch of Elvin's 30 points, Houston was able to take a halftime lead of 46-43. You go out and you play in a game like that, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing because anybody who saw that game, they can tell you what they was doing, where they was, anything they was doing at the moment. It was a historic event. It was just really, from my personal standpoint, was a great opportunity and a great honor to be a part of it. Way too long. Right to Chaney, who sets up Hayes. What a play. In the second half, Elvin would only score nine points, yet he and his teammates were able to hold off the number-one-ranked Bruins and shatter the longest winning streak in basketball. The win touched off an explosion in the Astrodome. That one single game did more for my career than any single game, and also for the school. I think that it catapulted the University of Houston and Elvin Hayes into a spotlight, which later on in my NBA career, it just really shined on me. And so it was a very important game for me, per se, in the University of Houston, whereas for Jabbar, he had already had so much acclaim coming out of high school and during his college days. I don't think that it really helped him, but I think that from my standpoint and for the players at the university at the time, it just really catapulted our career. Hayes with another rebound and another basket. Hayes, 20-footer, hits it again. Following an outstanding senior year, Elvin was selected as the finest college basketball player in the nation.