Franck Kepnang transferred to the Wildcats, joining former Huskies point guard Zoom Diallo
When the Washington Huskies men's basketball team took the court for the first time last season, it did so with just two players from head coach Danny Sprinkle's first year with the program.
Sprinkle had just two players on the 2024-25 roster that he coached the previous year: soon-to-be junior guard (and Tacoma, Wash., native) Zoom Diallo and graduate center Franck Kepnang.
Diallo opted to enter the portal earlier this offseason. Despite keeping open the option to return to Washington, Diallo instead opted to transfer to the Kentucky Wildcats.
The other player to return to Sprinkle's team last season, Kepnang, also entered the transfer portal. And he'll follow Diallo to Kentucky.
According to a post on "X" from On3 Sports' Transfer Portal account, Kepnang has officially transferred to the Wildcats. The '26-27 season will mark the 6-foot-11, 253-pound center's seventh year of college ball.
Kepnang began his career with the Oregon Ducks and played two seasons from 2020-22. After his pair of years in Eugene, Ore., Kepnang opted to stay in the Pacific Northwest and join Oregon's archrivals, the Huskies, where he's played the last four seasons.
Kepnang has been plagued with injuries throughout his lengthy college career.
Kepnang has played in 20 or more games in a single season just twice: once with the Ducks ('21-22) and once with UW ('25-26).
Kepnang's lone season of 20 or more games played with Washington came last year. He registered time in 27 contests and started 25. He averaged 6.2 points per game on 51.5% shooting in addition to 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks.
Washington center Franck Kepnang (11) attempts to block a shot during a game against Utah on Dec. 29 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. | Steven Bisig/Imagn Images.Kepnang missed the final six games of the season due to a stress reaction in his leg that he had been dealing with for most of the year. He wasn't able to practice for several weeks with the nagging injury but managed to suit up for games until the reaction worsened.
The Huskies found themselves down to six players this offseason with the outgoing transfers, including Diallo and Kepnang, and the players who ran out of eligibility.
Washington has filled six of nine open spots on the roster with four transfer portal additions and two freshmen commits, including Class of 2026 small forward Lattimore Ford and 6-foot-9, 21-year-old Brazilian forward Wini Braga.
Sprinkle and the team's hope that Braga, who is averaging more than a block a game with Minas of Brazil's professional basketball league, the NBB, and the returning Lathan Sommerville can fill the presence in the paint that Kepnang provided.
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