Tulsa Golden Hurricane Men's Basketball - Rivals

Rivals

Tulsa's primary basketball rival is Oral Roberts University, which is located in southern Tulsa. The teams began play in 1974 and currently play annually. A traveling trophy, the Mayor's Cup, is exchanged between the winner of the game. Tulsa hired Bill Self away from Oral Roberts in 1997.

Tulsa’s other rivalries have not had the intensity as that with Oral Roberts. While in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Golden Hurricane had an extensive rivalry with Wichita State; that has largely faded since Tulsa left the conference. The team has also had longstanding competitions against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Arkansas. The rivalry with Arkansas was enhanced with their hiring of Nolan Richardson away from Tulsa in 1985. Tulsa had an intense rivalry with Fresno State and Hawaii while a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Southern Methodist remains a fairly interesting rivalry, given that the two schools sometimes recruit similar players and that current Southern Methodist coach Matt Doherty was considered a front-runner for the Tulsa job prior to Doug Wojcik taking the helm; likewise, Doug Wojcik once interviewed for the Southern Methodist job.

With Tulsa's move to Conference USA, it is hoped that a restoration of the Golden Hurricane program could form a natural rivalry with Memphis and UAB for dominance in the conference. They are also rivals with fellow Conference USA members UTEP and Houston.