When Wichita State takes the court for the NCAA First Four it will rekindle one of its oldest rivalries.
 
Thursday marks the first time since Feb. 1, 2017 that the Shockers have faced the Drake Bulldogs.

A four-year hiatus isn't all that long in the grand scheme of things, but consider the context.
 
WSU and Drake played a home-and-home series in all but two seasons during a 72-year stretch that began in 1945-46 when the Shockers joined the Missouri Valley Conference. The exceptions were 1972-73 and 1973-74 when the league temporarily shifted to an unbalanced format and the teams scaled back to a single matchup.
 
WSU has faced Drake more times than any other opponent – 151 to be exact -- in a series that dates back to 1937.
 
The Shockers won 104 of those games, including 11-straight and 15 of the last 17, before making their move to the American Athletic Conference in the summer of 2017.
 
In honor of its revival, here's a look at some of WSU's biggest series wins:

Jan. 2, 1958 (Wichita, Kan.) – WSU 74, Drake 69
Down 15 points with 11:50 to play, WSU outscored the Bulldogs 32-16 over the next 9:25 to take a one-point lead with 2:25 to play, then expanded it with six consecutive free throws.
 
Mar. 6, 1964 (Lawrence, Kan.) – WSU 58, Drake 50
After the Shockers and Bulldogs finished with identical 10-2 conference records, WU won a neutral court tiebreaker at Allen Fieldhouse to claim its first-ever MVC Championship and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Feb. 1, 1967 (Des Moines, Iowa) – WSU 71, Drake 60
After struggling to get to Des Moines due to a blizzard, an apparently tired Shocker team trailed 60-56 with 3:50 to play before finishing the game on a 15-0 run.
 
Jan. 20, 1973 (Des Moines, Iowa) – WSU 93, Drake 80
Richard Morsden and Bob Wilson became the first Shocker teammates to score 30+ points in a game, finishing with 33 and 30 respectively. It's happened only one other time since then (1980).
 
Mar. 6, 1976 (Des Moines, Iowa) – WSU 75, Drake 69
Needing a win in its season finale to guarantee itself a piece of its first MVC crown since '65, WSU took care of business at Drake and won the title outright when SIU stumbled in overtime at New Mexico St.
 
Feb. 15, 1979 (Wichita, Kan.) – WSU 125, Drake 96
In the first year of the MTXE Era, Cheese Johnson (26 points) and Ray Shirley (21) led a group of six double-figure scorers, and the Shockers set arena and program team records for both points (125) and assists (42).
 
Feb. 18, 1980 (Des Moines, Iowa) – WSU 117, Drake 104
Drake junior Lewis Lloyd put a show with 31 points and 19 rebounds, but a pair of Shocker freshmen also had 30-point nights of their own. Behind Cliff Levingston (34) and Antoine Carr (32), WSU set a school record for most points in a road game (117).
 
Jan. 24, 1981 (Des Moines, Iowa) – WSU 89, Drake 88
Drake's Lloyd (43 points, 12 rebounds) outscored WSU's Levingston (28 points, 18 rebounds), but the Shockers shot 58 percent in the second half to pull out an 89-88 victory. Two weeks later in Wichita, Lloyd went for another 34, but the Shockers won again by 12.
 
Feb. 2, 1995 (Wichita, Kan.) – WSU 62, Drake 60
L.D. Swanson delivered the last of his three buzzer-beaters in the 1994-95 season, draining a short jumper with no time on the clock to snap a 60-60 tie.
 
Feb. 22, 2006 (Des Moines, Iowa) – WSU 60, Drake 58
Paul Miller's tip-in with 3 seconds to play won the game and clinched a share of the MVC regular season title, ending a 23-year conference championship drought.
 
Jan. 25, 2015 (Wichita, Kan.) -- #14 WSU 74, Drake 40
Tekele Cotton participated in his 108th career victory to became the winningest player in Shocker history, passing up Demetric Williams. The win was also WSU's 100th in the series against Drake.