The 2025-26 college basketball season is officially underway, and there will be a lot of eyes turned towards the Washington Huskies and what they do in a stacked Big Ten conference.

The program will enter the season in its second year under head coach Danny Sprinkle. 

In Sprinkle's first year coaching Washington last season, the Huskies finished last in the Big Ten with a 13-18 overall record and a 4-16 record in the conference and missed the cut for the postseason Big Ten tournament.

The Huskies will have an almost completely revamped roster as they look to take the step forward in 2025.

Here's a preview on this year's Washington men's basketball team:

Returners

The Huskies will have just two players that were from last season's roster.

Sophomore guard Zoom Diallo and graduate center Franck Kepnang are the two returning players.

Diallo, who was a top-30 high school recruit entering his freshman and a McDonald's All-American, averaged 11.1 points per game across 31 contests on 47.3% from the floor and 18.2% from 3-point range. He also averaged 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

Kepnang played just 14 games last year due to a knee injury. He averaged 6.9 points, 1.9 blocks and 5.1 rebounds per game and shot 53.3% from the field.

New faces

Washington will be bolstered by five incoming freshmen: guards BJ Roy, JJ Mandaquit and Courtland Muldrew and forwards Jasir Rencher and Hannes Steinbach.

Roy is the son of Huskies legend and Seattle native Brandon Roy, who's No. 3 is retired by the program. The younger Roy was coached by his father at the latter's high school alma mater, Garfield High School, in Seattle. BJ Roy will wear the No. 3 that was once donned by his father.

Mandaquit was ranked the No. 6 point guard and No. 50 overall prospect of his class by 247Sports. He helped lead Team USA to a gold medal in the U19 FIBA World Cup this year. He scored nine points on 4-for-9 shooting and dished 12 assists in Washington's 77-62 exhibition game win against UNLV on Oct. 19.

Muldrew is another four-star prospect according to 247Sports. He was ranked the No. 18 shooting guard prospect in his class. In high school, he broke former Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year Malik Monk's state scoring record for Arkansas (1,110 points).

Rencher was the third four-star recruit of the 2025 class for Washington. He was ranked the nation's No. 88 overall prospect and the No. 7 high school player out of California. He earned first-team all-state honors as a senior.

Steinbach was an international recruit out of Germany and competed against Mandaquit in the U19 FIBA World Cup this summer. Steinbach was the standout player from the Huskies' exhibition win against UNLV. Steinbach scored 22 points on 10-for-15 shooting and 2-for-6 from the free-throw line and brought in 16 total rebounds.

New places

Washington brought in eight transfers this season to help shore up the roster: sophomore forwards Christian Nitu and Bryson Tucker; sophomore guard Wesley Yates III; sophomore center Lathan Sommerville; junior forward Mady Traore; senior guards Quimari Peterson and Desmond Claude; and sixth-year forward Jacob Ognacevic.

Nitu transferred from Florida State; Tucker transferred from Indiana; Sommerville made the cross-country trek from Rutgers; Traor came from Frank Phillips College, a junior college in Borger, Texas, after stops at Maryland and New Mexico State; Peterson transferred from East Tennessee State Ognacevic transferred from Lipscomb; and Claude and Yates came over from Southern California (USC).

Six of the eight transfers either transferred from or have experience at Power Four schools. Five of the eight incoming transfers came over from or have experience at other Big Ten programs.

The player that's received the biggest offseason chatter is Yates. He was named the watch list for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award before the season. Yates began his college career in Washington in 2023 but redshirted due to a foot injury. He returned to the Huskies this year after one year with USC.

Season outlook

In the preseason Big Ten media poll released Oct. 9, various media members covering teams in the conference projected the Huskies to finish 11th in the 18-team conference with 239 votes. The Purdue, which was ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll, earned 25-of-28 first-place votes.

Key games

Washington will open Big Ten play against UCLA and UCLA on Dec. 3 and Dec. 6, respectively. The Huskies will play the Bruins at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle and USC in Los Angeles.

Washington will play No. 1 Purdue on Jan. 7 in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Huskies will play their Pacific Northwest rivals Oregon on Jan. 25  and March 7, respectively. The first game will be in Seattle and will be streamed on Peacock and the second game will be in Eugene, Ore., and will air on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). 

Quotable

Former college basketball coach Tom Crean, who has a Final Four and several Sweet 16 berths on his resume, had kind words for Sprinkle and the program he's developing in Seattle.

Here's what Crean said about the program in a post on "X.":

"Just leaving Seattle after watching the (Washington men's basketball team) prepare, practice and run their clinic with WIBCA and speaking at it. I knew I'd be impressed with (Sprinkle) and the entire staff but I was far more inspired with the entire operation. This program will win and soon. Developers!"

Here's what Diallo said in a quote in a story written by Seattle Times reporter Percy Allen:

“Slowly the roster came together, and I started to get more excited,” Diallo said. “I started looking at the background of guys and where they came from. I’m like, ‘OK, we can all play together.’”

Here's what Sprinkle at Big Ten media day Oct. 8 (via Allen's story):

“I like that people are saying nice things about us and that expectations are high because they certainly couldn’t get any lower after the season we had. But at the end of the day, everything that people are saying and writing doesn’t mean much if we don’t go out there and do the things to be successful."

Washington will begin its season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 8 p.m. PT on Monday at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

Schedule (all times PT)

Monday, Nov. 3 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 8 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 6 vs. Denver 7 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 9 at Baylor 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 14 at Washington State 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 18 vs. Southern 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 27 vs. Nevada * 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 3 vs. No. 12 UCLA 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 6 at USC 3 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 13 vs. Southern Utah 3 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 19 at Seattle U 8:30 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 22 vs. San Diego 7 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 29 vs. Utah 8 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 4 at Indiana 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 7 at No. 1 Purdue 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 11 vs. Ohio State 3 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 14 vs. No. 7 Michigan 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 17 vs. No. 22 Michigan State TBD

Tuesday, Jan. 21 at Nebraska 6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 25 vs. Oregon Noon

Wednesday, Jan. 29 at No. 17 Illinois 6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 31 at Northwestern 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 4 vs. Iowa 8 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 7 at No. 12 UCLA 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 11 vs. Penn State 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 14 vs. Minnesota 7 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 21 at Maryland Noon

Monday, Feb. 24 at Rutgers 3:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 28 vs. No. 24 Wisconsin 1 p.m.

Tuesday, March 4 vs. USC 7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 7 at Oregon 8 p.m.

RELATED HUSKIES STORIES

WASHINGTON HUSKIES FOOTBALL EARNS TOP 25 PLACEMENT: The Huskies earned their first placement of the season on the AP Top 25 poll. CLICK HERE

FORMER COLLEGE BASKETBALL COACH COMPLIMENTS WASHINGTON COACH, PROGRAM: Tom Crean, who coached various teams to a Final Four appearance and three Sweet 16 appearances, had kind words for Danny Sprinkle after a recent basketball clinic. CLICK HERE

HUSKIES MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM ANNOUNCES NEW UNIFORMS: The Huskies will have new and revamped threads for the 2025-26 season. CLICK HERE

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