Tulsa wins intimidation battle against short-handed Cincy

Steve Addy

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- These WAC dudes from Tulsa are some bad hombres. UNLV found out Friday, and it was Cincinnati's turn Sunday.

Already insulted by their No. 7 seed in the South Regional, despite having the most wins in the nation, senior forward Eric Coley and the Golden Hurricane (31-4) made Cincinnati pay for some additional slights, real or perceived.

After wasting a 16-point first-half lead, Tulsa put on a late 14-0 run and held on to upset the second-seeded (and seventh-ranked) Bearcats 69-61 to reach the NCAA Tournament round of 16. The Golden Hurricane will take on Miami (23-10) in Friday's regional semifinals at Austin, Texas.

As in its 89-62 rout of UNLV in the first round and customary of its season, Tulsa used its seeming cast of thousands to wear down a Cincinnati team that sorely missed star Kenyon Martin. Tulsa put four scorers in double-figures.

"Wow, did we play down the stretch," Tulsa coach Bill Self said. "Even without Martin, they are a terrific team. There shouldn't be an asterisk next to this one."

Coley, in particular, showed no sympathy for the Bearcats. He's a 6-foot-5 power forward and an honorable mention All-American, but was upset by what he viewed as a lack of respect by Cincy forward Pete Mickeal. At Saturday's off-day press conference, a Bearcats player said he didn't know where Tulsa is located, and Mickeal called Coley "Conley" among various careless pronunciations.

On Sunday, Coley drew Mickeal a map and spelled out his name with a fantastic game. He compiled 16 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, four steals, four blocks and one turnover in 38 minutes.

"When I was told (what Mickeal said), I took it as a slap in the face," Coley said. "Someone else said they didn't know that Tulsa was in Oklahoma. We've been in the top 25 all season. I think after today, they know how to pronounce my name and they know Tulsa is in Oklahoma."

"This was the best game (Coley) has ever played," Self said.

The Coley-Mickeal battle wasn't confined to words. Coley said the Bearcats came out of the locker room before Sunday's game, stole the warm-up balls from Tulsa and pointed the Golden Hurricane players to the other end of the court.

Then after Coley fouled Mickeal with 5:39 to play in the first half, Mickeal stared down Coley, who stared back. Mickeal turned and walked away. With 19 seconds to play, Coley capped the game by blocking Mickeal's 3-point attempt.

"They came out and tried to intimidate us," Coley said. "They thought we couldn't play, just because they hadn't heard about us. After the foul, (Mickeal) looked at me, and I looked at him and said, 'What?' He kind of turned his head, and I thought the battle was won there. You don't have to tell people how good you are, how tough you are, if you can go out and show them."

Respect has been a common theme for Tulsa all season, and will continue to be, especially after it pounded a marginal qualifier in UNLV and then Cincinnati without the likely NCAA player of the year.