Husky Basketball Big Ten Opponents Revealed

Dates and times for these games are yet to be determined.

Rick Mount appeared on an SI cover in 1966. / Sports Illustrated

Big Ten basketball teams regularly used to play the University of Washington in Seattle, coming in for a pair of non-conference games on consecutive nights, preferably on Friday and Saturday, more often than not bringing out overflow crowds.

None of these intersectional series was more anticipated than a 1967 visit by Purdue and its high-scoring sophomore guard Rick Mount, who was making just his second and third college appearances considering that freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition back then. He had opened his career at home against UCLA and then-Lew Alcindor the week before, scoring 28 points in a two-point loss.

The 6-foot-4 Mount from a farm in Lebanon, Indiana, was the first high school basketball player to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated and such a prolific scorer everyone had to get a look at him. He had averaged 33 points per game in each of his last two prep seasons and 35 ppg for the Boilermakers freshman team.

On Dec. 8, 1967, the Huskies hosted the young phenom, held him to 23 points and upset No. 7 Purdue 98-87 in a contest that had then called Hec Edmundson Pavilion rocking. A night later, the Boilermakers bounced back, with Mount scoring 30 to lead his team to an 84-77 victory and a series split.

Purdue hasn't been back to Montlake since, but that's about to change this coming season -- when the Huskies join the Big Ten and host Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers and the Boilermakers in conference outings. Dates and times are to be determined.

The Huskies will play road games at Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin, plus home-and-away games against Oregon,, UCLA and USC.

The UW hasn't faced a Big Ten team since losing to Minnesota 68-66 in the 2018 Vancouver Showcase in that B.C. city and hasn't hosted one since beating Northwestern 76-55 in an NIT game held in Seattle in 2012.

The year before Rick Mount's visit, the Huskies played four games against Big Ten teams that season, beating Iowa 76-55 and losing to the Hawkeyes 66-50 in Seattle, losing at Purdue 85-70 and edging Indiana 81-79 in the Far West Classic in Portland.

As for Mount, he averaged 28.4, 33.3 and 35.4 for Purdue in his three-year career. He scored 61 points in a game against Iowa -- without the benefit of the 3-point line.

He played pro basketball in the ABA for multiple teams, going to the Indiana Pacers as the No. 1 overall draft pick and forsaking the NBA because it didn't have a 3-point line yet, which the new league did.. Now 77, Mount lives back on the farm in Lebanon.

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