Nearly four decades couldn’t erase the memories of that infamous game, and the thriller that followed.

For those involved, images and feelings were seared into psyches when Hawaii won by forfeit over national power Florida State on Dec. 18, 1971.

Just over 8 minutes into the game at the Blaisdell Arena (then called the Hawaii International Center), things went crazy. Seminoles coach Hugh Durham, incensed at the local officiating crew, would not leave the court after being ejected and the game was called. It remains one of the most remarkable games in UH hoops history.

Fast-forward 39 years to today, when UH and FSU meet in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. It’s the first game between the schools since the "Fabulous Five"-era Rainbows followed up that abbreviated 30-10 win with a full-length 81-76 beating four nights later. (Back then, visiting teams to Honolulu generally played the Rainbows twice.)

The UH players were glad for the rematch, feeling unsatisfied that a chance for a normal win had been robbed of them the first time.

Fab Five forward Al Davis, now 60, remembers some of the Seminoles players laughing before the first game about UH’s aloha-print uniforms.

"You’re laughing at my uniform, I tell you what, let’s wait until the ball goes up, we’ll see who’s going to laugh last," said Davis, a Chicago native who lives in Hawaii and plans to attend tonight’s game. "For us, it wasn’t like we feared anybody that we played.

"It was another game, it was a big game, they were one of the teams that was ranked (13th) in the country. And we were on our way up. We wanted to show everybody else that we could play with anybody in the country."

Did they ever. UH turned a 9-7 game into a rout in the making with a 13-0 run behind Bob Nash. Then in a flurry of whistles, it was over.

Articles from both the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser homed in on Durham’s controversial decision to initially refuse to leave the court, then take his entire team with him.

Durham said then — and again in August to the Star-Advertiser — that, down 26-10, he was trying to fire his team up by getting a technical foul. Official David Mahukona thought Durham swore at him in the process, but Durham contended he was just swearing in general. Mahukona tossed him but, after UH made four free throws, Durham remained on the court. Mahukona ended the game in response, and that was that.

"I wasn’t going to leave my team out there," Durham was quoted on that night by the Advertiser. "And (my players) all said if I left, they were going to leave, too."

What stands out the most to KFVE color commentator Artie Wilson, a freshman on that UH team, was the atmosphere of the sellout crowd.

"I just remember it being a lot of electricity in the HIC," Wilson said. "When Hawaii went up, and it looked like we were going to dominate or take control of things, things just went crazy.

"Their coach just kind of lost it, and the officiating crew here wasn’t going to accept it. It just kind of went nuts. It was shocking because we were shocked that they walked off the court."

Behind Nash’s 20 points and 11 rebounds, UH held off the Seminoles on Dec. 22 in the rematch. UH led by 14 points in the second half, and FSU cut it to three late, but the Rainbows closed it out at the foul line.

The Seminoles went on to lose to UCLA in the national title game, while UH made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

A victory for UH (7-2) tonight would be just as impressive, considering the depleted Rainbows will more than likely have only eight active players — senior captains Hiram Thompson and Bill Amis are expected to miss the game with injuries — against FSU (9-2), which is among the national leaders in defense.

The current coaches of Hawaii and Florida State, Gib Arnold and Leonard Hamilton, weren’t aware of the matchup’s history. Arnold, the first-year UH coach, pointed out that he was 3 years old in 1971.

But there are still connections to be found. KHON sports director Kanoa Leahey will have the play-by-play call of tonight’s game on ESPNU. His grandfather, Chuck Leahey, was the radio voice of the Rainbows in the previous meetings.

The bridge between them, veteran sportscaster Jim Leahey, remembers listening to his father’s call of that game. He is proud his son will lend his voice to the long-awaited next chapter.

"It was an amazing story," Jim Leahey said. "But anybody who was there remembers it because it was such a terrific thing.

"Hawaii people expected … they just wanted Hawaii to play good. This is a big-time team, Florida State. Hawaii not only played good, they played just terrific."