The Gonzaga–Washington's men's basketball rivalry is a cross-state

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs (), also known unofficially as the Zags, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

and the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

Series overview

Gonzaga and Washington have met a total of 49 times dating back to 1910. Gonzaga was admitted to the

Northwest Conference The Northwest Conference (NWC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member teams are located in the states of Oregon and Washington. It was known as the Pacific Northwest Conference from 1926 t ...

in December 1923; the teams met a single time in conference play before the conference collapsed in late 1925. The Huskies dominated the series up until the end of the 20th century, but Gonzaga has won 14 of the last 16 meetings, dating back to 1998. The Huskies hold a 19–7 lead in Seattle, Gonzaga leads the series 12–11 in Spokane, and the Zags own a 1–0 record in neutral locations, but they have never met in any postseason tournaments.

Hiatus

Washington and Gonzaga met 11 times between 1995 and 2006, including a true home-and-home series annually from 1997 until 2006, but then Washington cancelled the series. Gonzaga was dominating the series, ascending from a Cinderalla in the 1999 NCAA Tournament to regular in the top 25 polls and the NCAA Tournament every year. Bad blood surfaced between the schools with Huskies assistant coach Cameron Dollar breaking NCAA rules while recruiting Josh Heytvelt, who ended up signing with the Zags. In 2009,

Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as an assistant coach for the Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball, Loyola Marymount Lions, a position he has held since 2024. He pre ...

and his Washington staff proposed a series three games in a row at KeyArena in Seattle, but Gonzaga head coach

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has led the Bulldogs from mid-major obscur ...

took insult to that, retorting with "the chances of that happening are about the same as Bigfoot having my baby. That's like me saying, Gonzaga proposes a five-year deal at Spokane Arena. There, I just made a proposal. That's as logical as this deal

ould be Ould is an English surname as well as an element of many Arabic names. In Arabic contexts it is a transliteration of the word ولد, meaning "son". Notable people with this surname include: English surname * Edward Ould (1852–1909), English ...

Renewal

In 2014, Washington State Senator Michael Baumgartner proposed a bill that would require Gonzaga and Washington to play once a year in men's basketball. Later in the year, it was announced that the dormant rivalry between the Huskies and the Bulldogs would be renewed with a 4-year home-and-home series beginning in the 2016–17 season and running through the 2019–20 season. A year later, with Gonzaga and Washington both among the field of the 2015

Battle 4 Atlantis The Battle 4 Atlantis is an early-season college basketball tournament. It takes place at Atlantis Paradise Island on Paradise Island in The Bahamas, on the week of the US holiday of Thanksgiving. For sponsorship purposes, the tournament is of ...

Thanksgiving week basketball tournament, they were selected to play each other in the opening round of the tournament, ending the rivalry drought at 9 years. In 2019, The Zags and Huskies extended their home-and-home series from the 2020–21 season through the 2023–24 season, starting in Spokane.

Game results

Below is a complete list of series results, according to Sports Reference and GoHuskies.com. Rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga-Washington men's basketball rivalry College basketball rivalries in the United States Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball Washington Huskies men's basketball 1910 establishments in Washington (state)