Inside The Huskies

Wooden Classic Pairs UW Basketball Team Against Fresno State

The teams will meet the night before Thanksgiving in Anaheim.

Dan Raley

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In the past seven months, the University of Washington has walked off with a bunch of its football coaches and then its backup 7-foot-1 basketball center. 

So it seems only fitting that the UW and Fresno State would meet somewhere soon in some athletic setting and settle their competitive differences, too.

In this case, the Huskies and Bulldogs basketball teams will meet in the opening round of the Wooden Classic on November 23, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, on a neutral court at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena.

Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPNU. Fresno State was 23-13 last season, the Huskies 17-15. The UW won this event in 2014.

A second game will feature St. Mary's and Vanderbilt at 9 p.m. on ESPN2. The Gaels come off a 26-8 season, while their SEC opponent was 19-17.

On the following night on Thanksgiving, the winners and losers will play at 9:30 and 7 with the same broadcast partners.

Braxton Meah, a 7-foot-1 sophomore center from Fresno, transferred from Fresno State to the UW this past offseason. He played 55 games for the Bulldogs, all in a reserve role, averaging 2.5 points and 2.2 rebounds an outing in his career.

With the Huskies returning just one starter, guard Jamal Bey, Meah could be in contention for one of the vacancies.

Fresno State leads the series 3-2 with Washington, but the schools haven't played in 29 seasons. The Bulldogs won the last meeting 67-65 on December 7, 1993, in Fresno.

And, no, Kalen DeBoer, the former Fresno State and current UW football coach won't be there. His Husky football team will be preparing to play in the Apple Cup against Washington State in Pullman on the following Saturday.  

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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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