Oral Roberts–Tulsa basketball rivalry


The PSO Mayor's Cup is the name of the basketball rivalry between the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane and Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is also the name of the trophy given to the winning Men's and Women's teams. The Mayor's Cup is sponsored by the Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

History

Tulsa and ORU had their first meeting on March 4, 1974, which Tulsa won 85–84. The series has been hard fought since then, and Tulsa holds the edge in the overall series 35–19. The rivalry has been marked by remarkable runs either way: Oral Roberts won 8 consecutive match-ups in the late 1970s; directly following that streak, Tulsa won the next 13 in a row and 24 of 27 between December 8, 1980 and December 19, 2002. The rivalry has become more balanced in recent years, with each school winning 8 games over the past 16 meetings. The largest margin of victory was 45 points, by Tulsa over ORU in 1994. Another turning point in the rivalry was Tulsa's hiring of Bill Self away from Oral Roberts prior to the 1997–98 season.
The ORU and TU Women's basketball teams have faced off in the series since 1976. The ORU Women's team has dominated, 30–7, including a 20-game streak from 1976 through 1999.
The cross-town basketball series has been called the "PSO Mayor’s Cup" since 2012, with Public Service Company of Oklahoma serving as the title sponsor.
The 2014 PSO Mayor's Cup Men's game, held on November 15 at ORU's Mabee Center, was won by Oral Roberts by a score of 77–68, serving as the second straight win in the series by the Golden Eagles. The 2014 PSO Mayor's Cup Women's game, held on November 21, was also won by Oral Roberts by a score of 73–71.
Oral Roberts swept the PSO Mayor's Cup games again in 2015, this time at TU's Reynolds Center, with the Golden Eagle women winning 59–53 on November 20, and the ORU men taking their third in a row in the series, 70–68 on December 5.

Results

Scores of Men's games