For all the history packed into Wichita State and Tulsa’s rivalry that dates back to 1931, Tuesday will still bring something neither side has experienced before.
A fourth meeting — in the same season.
That is what makes this National Invitation Tournament regional final feel a little strange, a little more personal and a little more compelling than the average March rematch. After playing twice in the regular season and again in the American Conference tournament, Wichita State and Tulsa will meet again at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Reynolds Center on ESPN2 with a trip to the NIT Final Four on the line.
“It’s crazy, I’ve never played a team four times before,” WSU star Kenyon Giles said. “Tulsa is a really good team. We get to battle them again. One more time at it.”
Wichita State’s Will Berg battles Tulsa’s Tyler Behrend for a rebound during a game earlier this season at Koch Arena. Travis Heying The Wichita Eagle
There is an old basketball saying about how it’s hard to beat a good team three times in the same season. WSU is now trying to stretch that challenge even further. The Shockers have already beaten Tulsa twice in the last month and now must do it again, in the one place they have not been able to solve under Paul Mills, who is 0-3 at the Reynolds Center.
So if the Shockers want to keep this season alive and punch their ticket to Indianapolis for the NIT Final Four on April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse, they will have to do something they haven’t done since 2023: win at Tulsa.
That is the twist in this fourth meeting. WSU may have the confidence from winning the last two games, but Tulsa has the confidence of playing on its home floor in front of its home fans.
The teams split their regular-season meetings, each protecting its home floor. Tulsa won 93-83 on Feb. 1, then WSU answered back with an 81-77 win at Koch Arena on Feb. 14. The rubber match came in the semifinals of the American Conference tournament in Birmingham, where the Shockers pulled away for an 81-68 victory and advanced to the title game.
And now, just 10 days later, here comes Round 4.
By this point, there are few secrets left.
“Excited to play those guys and continue this opportunity,” Mills said. “We understand how hard it’s going to be. I can promise you Tulsa knows all of our plays. We know all of their plays. We could probably call them for each other.”
Wichita State Dre Kindell gets a shot a foul against Oklahoma State’s Vyctorius Miller during the second half of their NIT second on Sunday night in Stillwater. Travis Heying The Wichita Eagle
That familiarity should make for a fascinating chess match, because the edge is no longer about surprise. It is about execution, toughness and composure when both teams can practically finish each other’s scouting report.
The quick turnaround only adds to the oddity of it all.
“I think it comes down to such a battle of wills and executing even when each team knows what could be happening,” Tulsa coach Eric Konkol said. “It’s not like you’re going to scrap your whole playbook and totally change. You can adjust. You can throw in a wrinkle. But this is going to be about execution.”
Wichita State is coming off Sunday’s road win at Oklahoma State, an emphatic performance that ranked as one of the team’s top performances of the season. Tulsa, meanwhile, has not had to leave home in the NIT because its stronger NET ranking earned it the top seed in the pod. The Golden Hurricane needed overtime to get past Stephen F. Austin, then beat UNLV on Sunday to reach Tuesday’s showdown.
Neither team will have a rest advantage. Both played Sunday night. Both are turning around in less than 48 hours. And both know exactly what is at stake.
For WSU, this game is not simply about beating Tulsa again. It is about refusing to let the previous two wins create a false sense of comfort.
“To win this game, we’ve got to leave those past three games in the past,” Giles said. “We’ve got to focus on the task at hand for this one.”
Wichita State’s Kenyon Giles celebrates one of his eight three pointers during the second half of their NIT second round game against Oklahoma State on Sunday night in Stillwater. Travis Heying The Wichita Eagle
That mindset may matter as much as any tactical adjustment.
Because even though Wichita State has won two straight in the rivalry, the margins and circumstances have shifted each time. Tulsa proved in the first meeting that its offense can score in bunches, torching the Shockers for 93 points at Reynolds Center. WSU responded by tightening up defensively in the rematch and then delivered its most complete effort of the three meetings in Birmingham.
But Tuesday offers a new variable: Tulsa’s top player may not be available at all.
Golden Hurricane leading scorer David Green injured his shoulder against WSU in the conference tournament and missed the entire second half of the Shockers’ 81-68 win. Green has also missed Tulsa’s first two NIT games and his status for Tuesday remains uncertain. That is a potentially massive development, considering Green averaged a team-best 16.1 points this season and presents a difficult stretch-forward matchup for almost any opponent.
Regardless if Green plays, the challenge for the Shockers remains substantial because this rivalry has developed a reliable home-court edge. Tulsa has looked different in its own building against WSU and Reynolds Center figures to provide a charged setting for a rivalry with plenty of bitterness and familiarity between the two fan bases.
After a strong showing from Shocker fans in Stillwater on Sunday, Mills hopes WSU brings a small army again to Tulsa on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a heck of a game and a really fun environment,” Mills said. “I’m looking forward to seeing all of the Shocker fans there in Tulsa on Tuesday.”
There is novelty here beyond just the rivalry. This is the first time in program history that Wichita State will face a Division I opponent four times in the same season. But that does not mean the Shockers have never played a team four times in the same season before — it just means you have to dig deep into the archives to find it.
WSU, then known as Fairmount College, opened the 1925 season by playing Northwestern Oklahoma four straight times in a six-day span. A decade later, in the 1935-36 season, WSU, then known as the Municipal University of Wichita, played four conference opponents four times each in the old Central Intercollegiate Conference. The Shockers faced Emporia State, Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State and Southwestern four times apiece in a format built around doubleheaders home and away.
Wichita State’s Dillon Battie throws down a dunk against Oklahoma State’s Christian Coleman during the first half of their second round NIT game on Sunday in Stillwater. Travis Heying The Wichita Eagle
So yes, WSU has seen a Round 4 before.
Just not in anything resembling the modern game. Not with ESPN cameras. Not with a rivalry this heated. Not with a trip to the NIT Final Four hanging in the balance.
By now, Wichita State and Tulsa know each other too well for the game to be anything less than brutally honest. There will be no mystery. No hidden cards. No easy surprises.
Just one more meeting.
And for the Shockers, maybe the hardest one yet.
This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 6:02 AM.
Related Stories from Wichita Eagle
Taylor Eldridge
The Wichita Eagle
Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.
