UW, WSU won’t play in men’s basketball this season, per report

Hoops fans in the Pacific Northwest won’t get to see one of college basketball’s longest-standing rivalries during the upcoming season.

The UW Huskies and WSU Cougars will not face each during the 2026-27 regular season, according to a report from The Spokesman-Review’s Greg Woods. The teams will instead play an exhibition game in Seattle during October.

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Woods reported that WSU was open to playing UW this season, but talks between the schools fell through.

It will mark the first time the cross-state rivals haven’t played each other since 1917.

After UW left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten following the 2023-24 school year, the schools agreed upon a two-year pact to continue the hardwood rivalry. The Huskies won both of those matchups: 89-73 in Seattle during the 2024-25 campaign and 81-69 in Pullman this past season.

Both schools’ coaches have expressed different thoughts on the importance of continuing the rivalry series since taking over their respective jobs in 2024.

“I think that’s something that we’ve tried with all these Northwest teams, is to make sure that we’re doing right by what I think is good for college basketball and playing these local teams,” WSU coach David Riley, a Seattle native, said via The Spokesman-Review. “I think this is just a heck of a game.”

“If it’s best for our program? Yeah, if it’s not, then no,” UW coach Danny Sprinkle said after the most recent meeting between the teams via The Seattle Times. “I have to make decisions for UW basketball, and if it is, then great. If it’s not, if it doesn’t benefit us, then (no). We’re already playing 15 Quad 1 games in league, too. So, there’s a lot of dynamics that go into it.”

UW and WSU played the first game of their rivalry series in 1910. The Huskies lead the all-time series 190-111.

This isn’t the first time the Huskies have ended an in-state rivalry series since Sprinkle was hired. The school also opted out of its final two games of a series against Gonzaga prior to the 2024-25 campaign.

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