Inside The Huskies

UW Basketball Unveils 11-Game Non-League Schedule

Baylor, Nevada and Utah are featured opponents leading up to Big Ten slate.
Dan Raley|
The Huskies gather before plays resumes at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Huskies gather before plays resumes at Alaska Airlines Arena. | Skylar Lin Visuals

For Danny Sprinkle's second season, the University of Washington basketball team will play 11 non-conference games, with six held at Alaska Airlines Arena -- and all but three coming inside the state borders.

The season will begin on Monday, Nov. 3, with a home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-25 in 2024-25), and this outing coming two weeks after the UW faces UNLV in an exhibition game in Montlake.

Why the schedule-makers didn't make that latter match-up the real thing on this schedule is unclear. The Vegas team typically is a better draw than most of the Huskies' non-conference opponents lined up.

 On Thursday, Nov. 6, the Huskies host Denver (11-21), which has a new coach in Tim Bergstaser.

Giving the UW three games in six days, Sprinkle's team next heads to Texas to face Baylor (20-15) on a Sunday in Waco. Scott Drew's Bears complete this home-and-away series by coming to Seattle in 2026-27 for a game at Climate Pledge Arena downtown.

On Friday, Nov. 14, the Huskies head to Pullman to resume their cross-state rivalry with Washington State, a team they beat 89-73 last year at home.

Four days later, the UW hosts Southern (20-12) at Alaska Airlines Arena.

For Thanksgiving day, the Huskies will turn up in Palm Desert, California, to meet Nevada (17-16), a team that beat them 63-53 last year in Reno, in the Accenture Series.

On the following day, Sprinkle's guys meet either Colorado (14-21) or San Francisco (25-10) in the winner's or loser's brackets.

Following a pair of Big Ten games, the Huskies resume their non-conference play with four December outings, beginning with Southern Utah (12-14) on Saturday, Dec. 13.

 On Friday, Dec. 19, Sprinkle's team heads to Climate Pledge Arena to take on Seattle University (14-18), which won last's year game 79-70.

 

Three days before the Christmas holiday on Monday, Dec. 22, the Huskies host San Diego (6-27), which is coached by Steve Lavin, the former UCLA and St. John's leader and in a serious rebuild.

The UW closes out the non-conference schedule with a home game against Utah (16-17) on Monday, Dec. 29. The Utes have former Husky assistant coach Raphael Chillious on their staff.

Should the Huskies end up playing Colorado earlier, they will face six former Pac-12 teams, along with Utah and WSU and fellow Big Ten members UCLA, USC and Oregon.

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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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