‘All-out wars’: Past Shocker greats excited to see WSU-Tulsa rivalry matter again
It has been three decades since the last time the Wichita State-Tulsa basketball rivalry truly mattered.
The rivalry peaked in the early 1980s, as Gene Smithson and the Shockers churned out classic after classic against Nolan Richardson and his “40 minutes of hell.” Both teams were excellent and every meeting between the two held conference championship implications, which is what made those clashes so meaningful.
In the decades since, it has been rare to find years where both teams have been competitive at the same time. And then the rivalry was fractured some when Tulsa left the Missouri Valley Conference in 1996. Without a conference title or even national rankings at stake, the rivalry has become more tame over the years.
Former Shockers hope that changes with Saturday’s 5 p.m. game in Tulsa when No. 23 Wichita State (17-3) takes on the Golden Hurricane (14-6) with conference title implications on the line for the first time in nearly 31 years. Tulsa, 6-1, is a half-game out of first place in the American Athletic Conference standings with WSU, 5-2, right behind.
“For me personally, I only had two games marked on the schedule,” former WSU great Xavier McDaniel said. “When we played Tulsa down there and when we played Tulsa at home. Those were the only two games I had marked that I knew I had to perform.
“It was an all-out war every time we played them. I’m glad to see them back because that’s a money game. Hell, I wish I could be there but I’ll be watching it for sure.”
McDaniel (1981-85) was there for the peak of the rivalry, along with other Shocker greats like Antoine Carr (1979-83), Cliff Levingston (1979-82) and Aubrey Sherrod (1981-85). Tulsa had stars of its own like Paul Pressey (1980-82), Mike Anderson (1980-82) and Steve Harris (1982-85).
The two sides played each other 15 times between 1980-85 with Tulsa winning 10 of those games and the average margin being just 5.7 points. WSU’s highlight came at the end of the 1984-85 season, after being swept by Tulsa in the regular season, exacting revenge with an 84-82 win at Tulsa in the MVC tournament championship game to reach the NCAA Tournament.
“Both teams were so competitive and when you’re playing at that high of level, you desperately want to win,” Sherrod said. “We were great competition for each other and there was a really strong dislike there. Back in those days, there was always something crazy happening on the court or in the stands.”
Longtime WSU radio announcer Mike Kennedy remembers sitting courtside at Tulsa when Tulsa finished its warmups and guard Herb Suggs (1983-86) walked by, looking down at WSU’s end and said to no one in particular, “I hate those guys.”
“That’s just kind of how it was back then, they were like wars, they really were,” Kennedy said. “The fans were so intense, probably a little nastier in both places than they were for other opponents. They tended to go beyond just cheering for their own team. There was some nastiness toward the opponent.”
Hostile environment would only begin to describe what road trips were like to the other’s home court. Back then, the fans from both sides were ruthless. At WSU, fans were so raucous that Richardson told his wife not to come to Wichita. At Tulsa, fans would throw play money on the court in reference to WSU’s NCAA violations at the time.
“I never saw fans like that,” Richardson told The Eagle in a 1996 interview. “When they came in, they seemed like they were ready to throw cans on you.”
“They also had fans dress up in black-and-white prison uniforms,” Smithson said in the same 1996 interview with the Eagle. “Tulsa was by far the hardest on us in the conference.”
Lynbert “Cheese” Johnson (1975-79) remembers seeing Tulsa fans rip the head off of a WuShock at a game. He also remembers laughing when a Tulsa fan yelled at Smithson, dressed in an all-white suit, to give John Travolta, who starred in “Saturday Night Fever” at the time, his suit back.
But the memory that is still vivid for Johnson? The intensity on the court between the two sides.
“Of all the teams that we used to play back in the day, Tulsa was no doubt the feistiest team of all-time between the fans and the players and the coaches,” Johnson said. “When you played Tulsa, you had to bring your hard hat. It was going to be that type of game. If the ball was on the ground and you’re not getting on it, then move out the way because they’re coming after you.”
It’s been a long time since a WSU-Tulsa game has played out like that. Tulsa won 16 of 17 and 13 straight at one point from 1991-2002, while WSU has now won 12 of the last 13 meetings.
WSU coach Gregg Marshall knows the significance of the rivalry to a lot of Shockers, which is why he made it a priority to schedule Tulsa in the non-conference back in 2010.
“I just know that when I first came here, Tulsa was the one school, other than the in-state schools, that people wanted to see us play,” Marshall said. “The days of Nolan Richardson and Paul Pressey and that group, along with the great group of players and coaches who were matching up for the Shockers, that’s what they wanted to see again.
“Both programs have a lot of tradition and now they’re doing pretty well. They’re in first place. We’re looking up at them. We have to go down to their house and play well.”
Saturday’s environment isn’t likely to come close to what it once was in the early 1980s, but it’s a step in the right direction.
And for past Shockers, it feels good to know that the WSU-Tulsa basketball rivalry means something once again.
“I know a lot of us are going to be watching and it’s going to bring back some good memories,” McDaniel said. “This is just one of those top-notch rivalries, like the Duke and North Carolina except in the Midwest.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 1:05 PM.
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