Tulsa World: Rivalry gets a fresh start

TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | WIRELESS

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

		Sports Editor Mike Strain
		Sports Columnist Dave Sittler
		The Picker Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

Rivalry gets a fresh start

By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Published: 11/20/2008 3:23 AM
Last Modified: 11/20/2008 9:39 AM

It’s been a dozen years and many coaching changes, but OSU-TU still a draw for many.

Oklahoma State’s Keiton Page remembers cheering for Tulsa during its Elite Eight heyday.

On Thursday night, the Pawnee native will try to help OSU down the Golden Hurricane in a 7 p.m. nonconference game at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“I have been keeping up with TU basketball since I was little,” said Page, a freshman guard. “With TU being a good program and OSU being a good program, it’s going to be a battle. We’re looking forward to it.”

It’s been 12 years since these in-state basketball rivals have met. Both programs were a game from the Final Four in 2000. Now both are craving return trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Tulsa’s Doug Wojcik and OSU’s Travis Ford are new to this rivalry. But both have been educated a bit on the history.

“We’re looking at it as a great opportunity and a game away from home against a Big 12 opponent,” said Wojcik, in his fourth season at TU. “But we also know it means a little more because it’s in the state and our kids know that.”

Ford said Tulsa’s program has great tradition, and called this year’s squad one of the best TU has seen in quite a while.

“I told our team I don’t need to pump up Tulsa because you can go read any magazine or anything like that and see (them) in many different polls,” said Ford, OSU’s first year coach. “There are a lot of them and some of them, they have got top 25 votes.They are picked second behind Memphis in pretty much any poll you see in Conference USA and things like that.”

Both coaches have been impressed with the other’s roster.

Ford said his introduction to Tulsa 7-footer Jerome Jordan has been via NBA scouts.

“We have a lot of pro scouts that come over here,” Ford said. “Usually the case is they are coming from one direction or the other, or headed that direction, over to OU or over to Tulsa to see the big guy.”

Tulsa (1-0) will have a size advantage, and needs Jordan to be an impact player for success.

“He needs to be a factor in every game,” Wojcik said.

“How many people have 7- footers?” Jordan battled cramps in last week’s 50-43 grudge match win over Oral Roberts, but should be healthier on Thursday.

The Cowboys (2-0) have been impressive with their racehorse style of basketball featuring 3-pointers and on ball pressure. While Tulsa likes to run, it wants to play at its pace.

Wojcik pointed out point guard Byron Eaton, who engineers the OSU attack.

“Byron Eaton has a low center of gravity and he’s fast,” Wojcik said. “He can get the ball down the floor.

“Tempo is really important.

If you watched the North Texas game, it was up and down. We want to try to slow them in terms of how fast they want to play.”

It’ll be interesting to see how Tulsa reacts in its first road game.

“Gallagher-Iba is one of the top arenas to play at in the country,” TU guard Ben Uzoh said. “It will be an experience in itself. We just have to be there for each other and be defensively tough.”

Ford hopes the home crowd can provide a boost.

“It will be a fun game for all the fans and we need to pack this place out to make it a great college game,” Ford said. “We need Gallagher- Iba to be the Gallagher-Iba we all think of it to be.”

Tickets remain: The Tulsa ticket office has a limited number of tickets remaining for Thursday night’s game.

Call 631-4688.

Eric Bailey 581-8391
eric.bailey@tulsaworld.com

World sports writer Jimmie Tramel contributed to this article. By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

COMMENTS

Add your comment

Show: Most Recent Comment First

0 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.