The Huskies will host SeattleU in an 8 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday, March 3 at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Ticket holders for Washington’s cancelled Dec. 23 game against Lehigh will be able to use that ticket to admission to the game against Seattle U. with the same seat location. Tickets will go on sale Friday, Jan. 16, through the Husky Ticket Office by calling (206) 543-2200 or by purchasing online on GoHuskies.com. Tickets are priced at $30 for all seats with backs, $25 for bleacher seating without backs and $10 for UW students.
"We are looking forward to competing against the Huskies,” said SeattleU athletic director Bill Hogan. “I have said publicly several times that UW has been very supportive of our return to NCAA Division I and we are appreciative for this opportunity to renew this great rivalry. We are hopeful that a good number of red sweaters will mix along with all of the purple on March 3rd at Bank of America Arena.”
Washington was scheduled to play Lehigh University on Dec. 23, but the game was postponed due to a snowstorm that hit the Pacific Northwest. The Lehigh team was en route to Seattle, but was diverted back to Newark International Airport and returned to campus. The coaches from both teams attempted to reschedule the game, but could not find a suitable date.
“Certainly it was unfortunate that we did not get a chance to reschedule the Lehigh game, but there is no question that this local rivalry game will excite the fans of the two schools and should peak the interest of basketball in the area period,” said UW athletic director Scott Woodward. “The fact that both programs had the need to fill a date and that we were able to get it worked out shows the benefit of having two Division I teams in the area. We are very supportive of SeattleU’s return to Division I and look forward to a long and competitive series.”
Washington owns a 19-4 overall record in the series history between the two schools, which began in 1953. Interestingly, that first meeting was played in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Corvallis, Ore., with UW winning, 92-70. The two teams did not play again until the 1969-70 season when the two teams launched an 11-year stretch of a home-and-away series. The two teams played twice annually for each of those years ? with one game played at the UW and another played at the Seattle Coliseum (now named KeyArena).
Washington and Seattle have not played each other since the 1979-80 season, when current UW coach Lorenzo Romar was a senior guard for Marv Harshman’s Husky squad. UW swept the season series that year, defeating SeattleU 89-67 on Dec. 15, 1979, at the Seattle Coliseum and 83-77 at Hec-Edmundson Pavilion on Jan. 29, 1980. Washington won six of the last seven games between the two teams, with the last SeattleU victory over the Huskies coming on Nov. 28, 1978, 82-78, at Hec-Ed.
"This opportunity will help our program grow," SeattleU men's basketball head coach Joe Callero said. "We are looking forward to playing a potential NCAA Tournament team. The SeattleU vs. UW matchup will be part of our own March Madness, with five games in the span of eight days."
The series was scheduled to resume next season with an annual contest for at least the next five seasons. The first game of that series is scheduled to take place next season at Washington with SeattleU hosting games at KeyArena during the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons.