Inside The Huskies

Huskies Play at Gonzaga, Looking for Hoop Breakthrough

The UW has lost 13 of the past 14 meetings over 24 seasons.

Dan Raley

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The last time a University of Washington basketball team beat Gonzaga, its current players weren't quite old enough for grade school, Mike Hopkins still lived in New York and had hair and the first YouTube video was uploaded.

That was way back in 2005, when the Brandon Roy-led Huskies survived Adam Morrison's persistent 43-point night and took a thrilling 99-95 victory in Montlake at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Yet that's been the only winning outcome for the UW in the past 14 outings covering 24 years. Over that time, the Huskies twice changed coaches and the Zags moved out of one campus arena and built another.

More often than not, the basketball games between these state rivals haven't been close at all. They've been embarrassing. Borderline ridiculous.

On Friday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, the UW and Gonzaga get after it once more, with a 6 p.m. tipoff and ROOT Sports telecast getting things started.

Might these Huskies (7-2 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) finally have it in them to ignore the crazies and all the other notable distractions The Kennel presents and reverse things on the scoreboard?

After all, this Mark Few quintet seems a little less fearsome than usual after losing three of its nine games so far — even getting humbled by 19 to Texas and by 18 to Purdue.

"That's a big game," said the UW's 7-foot-1 center Braxton Meah, the Fresno State transfer. "I'm looking forward to it. It's a statement game basically. We've got to win that."

For the improbable to happen, the Huskies will need to get the most out of Meah, their rare and fast-improving big man, now left alone to fend for himself after 6-foot-11 Franck Kepnang tore up his knee and was lost for the season.

Meah, who averages 9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, still must contend with the Zags' best player, 6-foot-10 senior All-American center Drew Tille, who averages 19.8 points and 8.2 rebounds an outing.

Yet the rest of the Gonzaga basketball lineup lacks star power on the order of 7-foot-1 center Chet Holmgren and guard Jalen Suggs, both All-Americans in recent seasons and now NBA players, though Holmgren is injured as a rookie.

Timme teams with 6-foot-7 forward Julian Strawther, who averages 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds; one-time Iowa State transfer Rasir Bolton, who provides 11.7 points each time out; 6-foot-8 forward Andre Watson, an 8.7 scorer and 5.7 rebounder; and guard Nolan Hickman, once a Kentucky commit before changing his mind.

The Huskies will counter with 6-foot-7 Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks, who averages 16.6 points and 7 rebounds, both team-best numbers; 6-foot-7 forward Cole Bajema, a 10.2 scorer and 5.2 rebounder; guards PJ Fuller and Jamal Bey; plus the long and active Meah.

If there's anything new to the series, both teams have a pair of state products in the lineup, with the Zags' Watson hailing from Spokane and Hickman coming from Seattle, while the Huskies send Bajema of Lynden and Fuller from Seattle onto the floor first.

These teams, because of pandemic cancellations, haven't played in three seasons, since the Zags took an 83-76 victory in Seattle when Isaiah Stewart was in the Husky lineup. Timme, Watson and Bey are the only ones from either team still around who appeared in that game.

HUSKIES' CROSS-STATE MISERY

1998, at Gonzaga 82, UW 71 — A Don Monson-coached Zags handed 22nd-ranked UW an upset loss, overcoming center Todd MacCulloch's 28-point outing.

1999, Gonzaga 76, at UW 66 — The Zags broke a 47-all tie with an 11-0 run and Deon Luten's 23 points for the Huskies went for naught.

2000, at Gonzaga 86, UW 74 — Casey Calvary scored 29 for the winners, who used another 11-0 run to claim this one.

2001, Gonzaga 67, at UW 47 — The Zags were ranked in the AP top 25 for the first time and showed they belonged with an easy win over a Doug Wrenn-led Huskies in Seattle. 

2002, at Gonzaga 95, UW 89 (OT) — Will Conroy scored a career-best 32, which included a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, but it wasn't quite enough as Blake Stepp had 33 for the Zags.

2003, Gonzaga 86, at UW 62 — The Huskies didn't score a field goal for 15 minutes covering each half and were outscored 39-6 in that run.

2004, at Gonzaga 99, UW 87 — Husky standout Brandon Roy had torn meniscus knee surgery on a Tuesday and the Huskies lost to the Zags the next day as Adam Morrison scored a career-high 26.

2005, at UW 99, Gonzaga 95 — Jamal Williams provided 22 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Husky upset of the nation's No. 6 team —  the UW's only win over the Zags in the past 24 years — surviving Morrison's career-high-tying 43.

2006, at Gonzaga 97, UW 77 — The Huskies were ranked 13th, the Zags 18th, but the latter won for the 45th consecutive time at home, a nation-leading streak.

2015, Gonzaga 80, UW 64 (in Bahamas) — The teams met in the Battle 4 Atlantis tourney in their first game in nine years, but Dejounte Murray's and Andrew Andrews' 21 points each wasn't enough.

2016, at Gonzaga 98, UW 71 — Former Husky Nigel Goss-Williams scored 23 in a rout over the UW and Markelle Fultz, who had 25 points.

2017, Gonzaga 97, at UW 70 — The Zags, led by Johnathan Williams' 23, crushed the Huskies at home before a sellout crowd.

2018, at Gonzaga 81, UW 79 — Rui Hachimura hit a mid-range jumper with six seconds left in the game to beat a Husky team led by Jaylen Nowell's 26 points and Matisse Thybulle's 18.

2019, Gonzaga 83, at UW 76 — The No. 9 Zags had their way with the 18th-ranked Huskies, who were topped by Isaiah Stewart's 21 points and 10 rebounds, in their last meeting.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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