The Seattle U–Washington's men's basketball rivalry, known as the Battle for Seattle, is a cross-city college basketball rivalry between the Seattle Redhawks men's basketball team of Seattle University and the Washington Huskies men's basketball team of the University of Washington.
Seattle competes as a member of the West Coast Conference, while Washington is a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Series history Despite the two teams' proximity, their first meeting only occurred in the West-2 Regional semifinal round of the 1953 NCAA basketball tournament; Washington emerged victorious by a score of 92–70. The teams did not meet again until 1969, when they began a split home-and-home series, played annually until 1980. The rivalry came to an end when Seattle moved its athletic programs to NAIA in March 1980, owing to budgetary pressures and changes in administrative philosophy. The Redhawks began the transition back to Division I competition in 2008, and the rivalry was resumed in March 2009.
In 2009, Seattle University and University of Washington agreed to renew their rivalry by playing annually on a rotating home-court basis. Seattle's then-head coach Cameron Dollar came from Washington as an assistant under Lorenzo Romar, which helped restart the rivalry when the Redhawks returned to Division I. In 2017, the two schools played in the 2K Sports Classic.
In 2024, in the 40th meeting between the teams, Seattle snapped a 46-year old, 19-game losing streak in the rivalry with a 79–70 victory. The Redhawks defeated the Huskies again in 2025, the first time that Seattle claimed consecutive victories in the rivalry.
As of the 2026 season, the series has been put on hiatus after Washington declined to schedule the Redhawks.
Game results
See also Fewing Cup
Notes
References