This win, combined with a shocking Cal loss to Oregon State tonight, makes UW and UCLA the Pac-10 co-leaders, each with 5-1 league marks.
And the Bruins come in Saturday.

The Huskies drew their first sellout crowd tonight. Imagine what Saturday will be like.

But first things first:

Star of the game: UW freshman Justin Dentmon led the Huskies with 22 points, and went 11-for-11 from the foul line.

Key stats: In a battle between the two top rebounding teams in the Pac-10, UW inched out a win on the boards, 36-34. Thirteen of those came from Jon Brockman, who had a season-low four points. … Three Trojans fouled out, including freshman sensation DeMar DeRozan, who has 16 points in 31 minutes.

Observations: USC leading scorer Dwight Lewis didn’t play due to an ankle injury. … It was another night of Pac-10 officiating, which I don’t mean as a compliment. At one point in the first half, Isaiah Thomas seemed to stop set in front of USC’s Leonard Washington. One official called a charge, one a block. They huddled and decided to split the baby in half by letting both calls stand. … Brandon Roy was honored before the game and a larger-than-life version of his No. 3 jersey raised to the rafters, joining Bob Houbreg’s No. 25 as the only basketball jerseys ever retired by the school. … The Huskies played before their first home sellout of the season.

Quotable: “This has got to be the most physical team we play,” Thomas said. “It came down to who wanted it more and who was tougher. We wanted it a little bit more than they did.” – UW freshman Isaiah Thomas.

Next: 1 p.m. Saturday, No. 13 UCLA, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

Haftime: USC's Daniel Hackett hit a 35-footer at the buzzer to cut UW's lead to 31-30.

It's been a half of runs and bad officiating.

Pondexter and Dentmon lead UW with seven each. DeMar DeRozan is living up to his billing with 12 for USC ... but he picked up his third foul late.

USC' tall guards are giving UW's small guards trouble. Isaiah Thomas has one point.

Tipoff: The Huskies are going with the usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

Meanwhile, UW's next opponent -- 13th-ranked UCLA, which comes in Saturday -- just survived by two points tonight in Pullman.

No. 3 retired: We've just finished the Bradon Roy jersey-retirement tribute. Roy was warmly received by the current Huskies and by the sellout crowd here today. Among those joining him on the floor were Lorenzo Romar, athletic director Scott Woodward and even university president Mark Emmert.

A larger-than-life white No. 3 jersey now hangs from the rafters, alongside a similar one that has been created for Bob Houbregs and his No. 25.

Roy opened his speech by saying he was told to keep it short, and he did. He thanked the fans, asked them to support the current Huskies and ended with a "God bless."

Pregame: USC leading scorer Dwight Lewis (15.8 ppg) is in street clothes on the Trojans bench. He had sprained his ankle on Monday, but indications this week had been that he would give it a go tonight.

That won't happen. But there's enough firepower on the roster where someone -- or some someones -- could step up.

Meanwhile, the 8 p.m. start gives me a pretty tight deadline tonight, so I might be a little light on the blogging. But I'll try to pop in with any news before or during the game, and also give a halftime update and postgame notes and quotes.

The game is on FSN.

We just got a few minutes with Brandon Roy and started with the obvious question: How does it feel to have your jersey number retired by UW.

His answer was pure typical B-Roy:

"I’ve been trying to think all week what this moment means, and I really can’t put it into words. But I know that I’m happy to be home and I just have to say I owe this moment to my teammates that I played with, Coach Romar, and you know without those guys this moment wouldn’t be possible. I just think my jersey going in the rafters represents what we did here at Washington. It may seem like it’s Brandon Roy’s jersey. It’s not though. It’s about this team and the moments we shared here."

Meanwhile, I notice that former Husky Spencer Hawes is here tonight, and Roy said former teammate Jamaal Williams will be here.

And now the current Huskies have taken the court and are warming up, all wearing No. 3 Brandon Roy commemorative T-shirts, which are on sale here tonight.

Speaking of that No. 3, Roy also told a good story I'm not sure I'd heard before about how he came to wear that number:

"That was my brother’s number, he wore it in high school. I actually wore four. He kind of made the number popular. When he didn’t get a chance to play college, I said, 'I’m going to wear your number.' That’s when I was going through my (academic) struggles. I was like, 'I’m going to try to do this for both of us.' When I got to Washington, I was like, 'I’m going to wear three.' ... This was my big brother, and I want to wear it. Now it’s going to be retired, so it’s like both me and him both being up there."

I've arrived at Hec Ed, and there is a sign outside saying that this game is sold out.

Part of that, I'm sure, is the Huskies' recent run of success and the importance/attractiveness of this game.

Another part, I'm also sure, is the pregame tribute to Brandon Roy, perhaps the best and certainly one of the most popular Huskies of them all.

(For those of you who know Hec Ed, the familiar purple and gold Bob Hougregs banner hanging from the rafters has been replaced with a larger-than-life jersey showing his name and his No. 25. It's just my hunch a companion No. 3 jersey is about to join it.)

The game will be broadcast on FSN at 8 p.m.