FILE – In this Jan. 20, 1968 file photo, UCLA’s Lew Alcindor, right, grabs a rebound as University of Houston’s Elvin Hayes (44) makes a leaping attempt to snag the ball while UCLA’s Edgar Lacey looks on during an NCAA college basketball game at the Astrodome in Houston. Hayes led the second-ranked Cougars to a 71-69 upset over Alcindor and top-ranked UCLA in what was billed as the “Game of the Century.” (AP Photo/File)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn’t realize what impact that game 50 years ago was going to have on college basketball. All he wanted to do was play in it.

Then a junior known as Lew Alcindor, UCLA’s All-American center spent a week nursing a scratched cornea before his team’s marquee matchup against Houston in the Astrodome. It turned out to be one of his worst performances of his UCLA career in one of the most important games in college basketball history.

“When you’re like 19, 20 years old, you’re just thrilled to be involved in such an important game,” Abdul-Jabbar said this week. “You don’t really have an understanding the implications in terms of the impact of the entertainment industry, but that’s what it was.”

Saturday is the 50th anniversary of the “Game of the Century,” UCLA’s game against Houston in the Astrodome on Jan. 20, 1968. It was the first nationally televised college basketball game in prime time and 50 years later, the impact of the game still resonates.

More on the game’s lasting impression half a century later