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The nation’s longest running continuous men’s basketball series will not be played in the 2022-23 season.
Washington State will not take on Idaho this upcoming season, which will be the first time the two teams have not played a game since 1906. The news of the “Battle of the Palouse” rivalry ending was first reported by Peter Harriman of The Spokesman-Review.
The two schools have played 277 games over their 116-year series, with Washington State holding a 167–110 series lead.
Per the report from The Spokesman-Review, the Vandals were interested in continuing the series with the Cougars, but Washington State declined “numerous overtures” to continue playing.
Idaho coach Zac Claus confirmed that the series would not continue.
“The schedule is set,” Claus said. “Contracts have been signed. We don’t have any wiggle room to make this game happen now.”
In light of the report that the series would not continue, Washington State’s athletic department released a statement, but remained vague on the game itself.
“We are continuing to work through finalizing our nonconference schedule for the upcoming season and will release once complete,” the statement said.
The motivation of Washington State’s decision to reportedly end the rivalry could stem from the Pac-12’s nonconference scheduling standards that were released ahead of the 2020-21 season. The updated standards stipulated that a Pac-12 member’s nonconference opponents were required to have a NET ranking of 175 or better.
Idaho finished last season ranked No. 325 in the NET rankings, doing no favors to the average needed for Washington State’s nonconference opponents.
The Cougars defeated the Vandals 109–61 last season, which marked the widest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry.
