STILLWATER — Oklahoma State and Tulsa have played 104 times, but the Cowboys and Golden Hurricane haven’t met on the hardwood since the current players were in elementary school.
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The in-state men’s basketball rivalry will be renewed after a 12-year hiatus tonight, when Tulsa travels to Stillwater to play the first of a four-game series. Next year, the game will be in Tulsa’s gym, the Reynolds Center. The following, year it will be at the BOK center in Tulsa, and in the last year, it will be back in Stillwater.
While basketball scheduling is usually done by the basketball staff, this series came about in conjunction with football scheduling. OSU senior associate athletic director Dave Martin said that in the spring of 2006, he and Tulsa athletic director Bubba Cunningham were working to set up a football series and decided to add basketball as well.
"It’s all on one contract together,” Martin said. "It really wasn’t any hard thing to get going.”
The football series is a two-for-one deal, starting in 2010.
OSU coach Travis Ford said he would hesitate to call this a rivalry game after such a long break, but he said OSU needs a rivalry-game atmosphere to help the Cowboys. In OSU’s first two games, attendance has been low, not yet reaching 6,000.
"I guess when you haven’t played in 12 years, I don’t know how much of a rivalry it is yet, but I think it’ll be a fun game for all the fans,” Ford said. "We need to pack this place out and make it a great college game. Not just because we need to try to win but we need this Gallagher-Iba to be the Gallagher-Iba we all think of it to be. We need to get our students in here, and we need to get them excited because this is a very good Tulsa basketball team.
"This is a team that has great tradition, that has one of the best teams they’ve had in a while. We’re going to have to overachieve.”
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I hope Page is as good as everyone believes him to be. I will take a wait and see position. Anderson shot the lights out in the early games last year, then pretty much disappeared when the conference got underway. BTW, I am not bashing Anderson. I think he is a very good player, but it is a big leap to Big XII caliber of play. I expect to see big numbers from him this year.
Page is that good. He is faster than he looks. His biggest problem will be staying out of foul trouble, but he is very impressive. This team is very exciting to watch.
I agree Page can shoot against teams like North TX, but what about OU, TX or KU? I have a hard time believing that a guy that is maybe 5'8" (listed at 5'10") can guard or shoot over someone that is 6'1 or 6'2. We'll see!
And just the other day I saw fellow cowboy fans bashing OU fans about basketball attendance. Maybe those people should stop worrying about what's going on in Norman and get up to Stillwater with the rest of us and give Ford and the team some support.
It never mattered who we played in years past so why does it matter now? GIA should be packed every night not just for the big games. If that is the case we might as well call it the Lloyd Noble of the North.
Just wait till you see the Page kid go. He came in to the game against North Taxes and got his team going. He really fired up the fans. He can really shoot. After all he led the nation last year in highschool in three point percentage. Over 50 per cent. He can shoot a high percentage in college too. He get his shots off in a nonosecond. Fantastic.
We haven't played anyone yet and everyone is still in the football mode. I believe Ford will have to prove himself and that is a good thing. There will be a good crowd tonight. As the cowboys keep winning the crowds will become bigger.
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Three things to know
→Tulsa’s 7-footer, Jerome Jordan, is a serious NBA prospect. OSU has been inundated with requests from NBA scouts who want to see him play on the road.
→In its first game, Tulsa played a slow-paced, low-scoring game against Oral Roberts. The final score was 50-43. It will be interesting to see how much Oklahoma State can push the pace.
→Sophomore James Anderson is coming off his best performance in quite some time — and possibly ever. He had 28 points against North Texas, and Ford said it was the best he’s ever seen Anderson with the ball in his hands.
BY ANDREA COHEN
Tulsa at Oklahoma State →When: 7:08 tonight
→Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater
→TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37)
→Radio: KXXY-FM 96.1
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