Three hundred and one consecutive games. That’s the streak the Apple Cup of college basketball is sitting on right now — not extending, not building on, just letting collect dust. For the first time since 1917, Washington and Washington State will not meet in the regular season. The two programs couldn’t hammer out an extension, so instead of a game that counts, they’ll play an exhibition in Seattle this October. An exhibition. Like it’s a Sunday morning YMCA run.
A source familiar with the situation told The Spokesman-Review that WSU was open to scheduling the game, but talks between the schools fell through. The Cougars and Huskies had agreed to a two-year extension in spring 2024, when both programs were adjusting to life after the Pac-12’s collapse. Washington won both of those meetings, including an 89-73 decision in December 2024. A further extension never materialized.
The coaches haven’t exactly been singing from the same hymnal on this one. WSU’s David Riley, a Seattle native, made his feelings clear before the first extension game: “I think that’s something that we’ve [done] with all these Northwest teams, is to make sure that we’re doing right by what I think is good for college basketball and playing these local teams. I think this is just a heck of a game.”
Danny Sprinkle, his counterpart in Seattle, was considerably less sentimental. “It’s a rivalry,” Sprinkle said. “It wasn’t that important to me to keep it on the schedule. It’s important to a lot of other people.” He later softened — slightly — telling the Seattle Times he’d keep the series going “if it’s best for our program,” and adding, “I love the rivalry. I love being 2-0 in the rivalry, too.”
What makes the pause particularly bitter is what happened this spring. Washington used the transfer portal to land LeJuan Watts and Steele Venters — two players who started their careers under Riley at Eastern Washington. Watts played the 2024-25 season for Riley at WSU before transferring to Texas Tech, and now he’s a Husky. Venters spent three seasons under Riley at EWU, transferred to Gonzaga, battled injuries, and is also Seattle-bound. The coach who wanted the rivalry kept his roster raided by the coach who called it an afterthought. You don’t need a sociology degree to see why scheduling conversations might have gotten frosty.
The backdrop is the Pac-12’s implosion, which scattered these programs into different orbits and stripped away the conference framework that guaranteed annual meetings. WSU’s known nonconference slate now includes Duke in Palm Springs, a trip to LSU, and a date with Eastern Washington in Spokane — a solid enough lineup, but one with a Pullman-shaped hole in it.
One hundred and nine years of continuity, gone because two athletic departments couldn’t find a date on a calendar. The game will probably come back eventually. Rivalries usually do. But the streak is dead, and you don’t get 301 back by scheduling an exhibition.