PHOTO BY DREW SELLERS / SEATTLESPORTSONLINE.COM
Chris Gweth of Seattle University.

BY TODD DYBAS / SEATTLESPORTSONLINE.COM

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar was asked and asked.

"Any news on the Lehigh game?"

"Nope."

Turns out, the Lehigh game has become the Seattle University game. The Huskies will host the Redhawks Tuesday, March 3 at 8 p.m. at Bank of America Arena. The game will be televised by FSN Northwest.

Ticket holders for Washington's cancelled Dec. 23 game against Lehigh will be able to use that ticket to admission to the game against Seattle U. with the same seat location.

Washington owns a 19-4 overall record in the series, which began in 1953. The first meeting was played in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Corvallis, Ore., with Washington winning, 92-70. The two teams did not play again until the 1969-70 season when the two teams launched an 11-year stretch of a home-and-away series. The two teams played twice annually for each of those years – with one game played at Washington and another played at the Seattle Coliseum (now named KeyArena).

Washington and Seattle have not played each other since the 1979-80 season, when Romar was a senior guard for Marv Harshman’s Husky squad. Washington swept the season series that year, defeating Seattle U. 89-67 on Dec. 15, 1979, at the Seattle Coliseum and 83-77 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Jan. 29, 1980. Washington won six of the last seven games between the two teams, with the last Seattle U. victory over the Huskies coming on Nov. 28, 1978, 82-78, at Hec Ed.

"This opportunity will help our program grow," Seattle men's basketball head coach Joe Callero said. "We are looking forward to playing a potential NCAA Tournament team. The Seattle University versus Washington matchup will be part of our own March Madness, with five games in the span of eight days."

The series was scheduled to resume next season with an annual contest for at least the next five seasons. The first game of that series is scheduled to take place next season at Washington with Seattle U. hosting games at KeyArena during the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons.

Todd Dybas is the editor of Seattlesportsonline.com. He can be reached via e-mail at tdybas@seattlesportsonline.com

Seattle University contributed to this report.