The Huskies and Purdue will play the first Saturday game in Portland, which will tip at 2:40 p.m.

Here's a quick look at the Boilermakers:

PURDUE (26-9)

School location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Conference: Big Ten
Coach: Matt Painter (107-54 in fifth season).
How the Boilermakers got here: Purdue went 11-7 in the Big Ten regular season and then won an automatic NCAA tournament bid by winning their first Big Ten tournament with wins over Penn State, Illinois and Ohio State. They advanced to the NCAA second round with a 61-56 win over Northern Iowa on Thursday at the Rose Garden. (Here's a report from their local paper.)
Outlook: Washington coach Lorenzo Romar descibed the Boilermakers as a fundamentally sound team that will not beat themselves. Some Huskies compared them to Washington State. They rank 11th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to a .389 shooting average. They allow an average of 59.1 points per game, 13th nationally. … In winning the Big Ten tournament, Purdue hit a tournament-record 27 3-pointers. They also set a tournament record with 44 rebounds in the championship game. … Painter is one of 10 finalists for the Henry Iba coach of the year award. … Sophomore forward Robbie Hummel was named most outstanding player in last week’s Big Ten tournament. He was named to the 2007-08 All-Big Ten first team. … Forward JaJuan Johnson was named to this season’s All-Big Ten Conference first team and to the all-tournament team. He led his leage in blocked shots, averaging 2.28 blocks during the regular season. … Guard Chris Kramer was named 2007-08 Big Ten defensive player of the year. … Guard Lewis Jackson was named to the conference all-freshman team and he was the conference freshman assists leader. … Guard E’Twaun Moore was named to the conference tournament team and has been named to the all-conference second team in back-to-back seasons. … This is Purdue’s 23rd trip to the NCAA tournament with a total of 30 wins and 22 losses. The Boilermakers are 3-1 all-time against Washington and 28-27 all-time against teams from the Pacific-10 Conference.

Huskies advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a convincing 71-58 win over Mississippi State, which looked every bit a No. 13 seed.

Quincy Pondexter led the way with 23 points -- his season high, but two short of his career high.

UW will meet No. 5-seed Purdue in the second round on Saturday -- gametime tba.

Some notes:

This was Washington’s third straight NCAA tournament opening-round win. The last two teams to do so also won their second game to advance to the Sweet 16. … Brockman recorded his 59th career double-double and his 19th of the season. It also was his 22nd game this season with 10 or more rebounds. And this was his 11th game this season with 14 or more. It also was the top rebounding performance by a Husky in any NCAA tournament games since Lorenzo Romar became coach. … This was the 18th time this season that Varnado blocked at least five shots. He has 394 blocked shots in his career, which is the MSU record. He is 18 behind Shaquille O’Neal’s Southeastern Conference career record. … The Bulldogs had a season-low five assists. … This was the third straight NCAA tournament that MSU had begun against a Pacific-10 Conference opponent. The Bulldogs had beaten the previous two: Stanford in 2005 and Oregon last season.

Halftime: UW, 38-27.

The big men -- Jon Brockman and MSU's Jarvis Varnado -- got their second fouls around the middle of the half, and both coaches brought them to the bench. That set up a very different half than most of us were expecting.

The Huskies are being carried by Quincy Pondexter, who has 15 points. Elston Turner also stepped up with seven points.

They're making up for a black hole of points from the guys who were UW's top scorers during the season: Brockman four, Thomas four, Dentmon zero.

On the other side, MSU just hasn't adjusted to UW's physical defense. They've been pushed out of their offense, and have contributed a bunch of unforced errors. No one has more than five for the Bulldogs. Varnado has two points, one rebound, one block.

Overall, MSU has two blocks, but at least in the early going UW seemed very aware of the potential of blocks. They fell into a more typical rhythm once Varnado got to the bench.

Tipoff: No surprises in the introductions. Huskies going with Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

Game is on Channel 7, and 950-AM.

I'll be back with news as it breaks through the game, then a halftime notebook, and finally postgame notes and quotes.

Pregame: The Huskies got notably louder applause when they took the court than did the Bulldogs. Not even close. Lots of boos for the Bulldogs, in fact.

Washington in white, State in maroon.

Winner of this game goes on to meet No. 5-seed Purdue on Saturday. Tip tba.

Seeding held in the first game at the Rose Garden today as No. 5 Purdue held off No. 12 Northern Iowa, 61-56.

That means the Boilermakers will meet the winner of the Washington-Mississippi State game coming up next. (Around 2 p.m., Channel 7.)

I was able to a bit of the game, and Purdue really impressed me early when they got a quick 10-point lead and looked like they were going to blow out the Panthers. However, they never really put UNI away. (And to their credit, the Panthers' play was exactly what makes this one of the great days in sports.)

Their most impressive player was 6-10 center JaJuan Johnson, who is athletic and long and then. He had the hops for dunks and blocks, runs the floor, and was able to step outside for a medium-range jumper.

I also liked the look of senior forward Chris Reid, who also jumps and was active defensively.

The leading Purdue scorer was sophomore guard E'Twaun Moore, who had 17 points, including the final two free throws that sealed it.

Junior guard Chris Kramer his a couple of clutch free throws in the final seconds.

Purdue now stands at 26-9, went 11-7 in the Big Ten, and got here by winning the Big Ten tournament.

Early upset? Long run? All the excitement of the NCAA tournament begins today, and somewhere in that 1:45-2 p.m. time frame for the Huskies.

Here's my game preview from today, focusing mostly on Venoy Overton. Some notes, topping with the question of whether Portland will be a home-court advantage for the Huskies. And a typically readable column by John McGrath, reaching back to a chapter of Mississippi State history.

Finally, a quick scout box:

No. 13 seed MISSISSIPPI STATE (23-12)
Vs. No. 4 seed WASHINGTON (25-8)

NCAA tournament, first round
When: Approximately 1:45 p.m., Rose Garden, Portland.
TV: Channel 7. Radio: 950-AM.
Region: West Region, Glendale, Ariz.
Series: UW leads 1-0, winning 82-80 in the 1967 Gator Bowl Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.
Scouting report: MSU uses four guards around center Jarvis Varnado. Varnado is the national leader in blocked shots. He was named to the All-Southeastern Conference first team and was voted the league’s defensive player of the year. Point guard Dee Bost was voted to the All-SEC freshman team. … As a team, MSU is second nationally in blocked shots behind Connecticut. The Bulldogs allow an average of 68.8 points per game and allow a 39.2 shooting percentage. … Offensively, MSU likes to run and shoot 3-pointers. Over their last 16 games, the Bulldogs have hit 149 3-pointers, including a school record 16 against Arkansas. … The Bulldogs have won six straight games, the Huskies six of their last seven. … Mississippi State is 5-9 all-time against Pac-10 schools. Washington is 5-6 all-time against SEC schools.
News Tribune pick: UW 82, MSU 73. The Bulldogs are scary because they are from a major conference, won their conference tournament, and don't have any directions in their name. Seeing them here in Portland, they look pretty impressive too: lots of athletes. So, Mississippi State could be a pretty good team. But so is UW. They won the regular season title in a better conference -- which is a more revealing test. And they've got enough versatility to counter MSU's strengths in a few ways. I'd be surprised if it was easy, but I think UW is simply better.