The Washington Huskies men's basketball team has been hard at work trying to fill out the roster for the 2026-27 season.

The Huskies have six players from last season's roster returning for this year. UW is currently at 14 players out of a possible 15 after landing four acquisitions via the transfer portal, one commit from the Class of 2026 and three international recruits.

Among the player to leave Washington this offseason were its two highest-scorers, which put the program toward the bottom of the conference in a concerning category.

According to a post shared to "X" by CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, the Huskies are 14th in the 18-team Big Ten in percentage of returning scorer. UW has just 19.6% of its scoring total from last season returning to the team for the '26-27 season.

The teams ranked behind Washington are: Northwestern (15.4%), Penn State (12.9%), Oregon (9.2%) and Indiana (5%).

Washington's two leading scorers from last year, forward Hannes Steinbach and guard Zoom Diallo, are both gone from the program and in different stages of their career.

Steinbach opted to enter the 2026 NBA Draft after one year in college basketball with the Huskies. The German forward is projected to be as high as a lottery pick in the '26 draft. 

Steinbach averaged 18.5 points to lead UW across 30 games (all starts). He scored a total of 556 points.

Diallo, who was one of two returners to the team last season after head coach Danny Sprinkle's first year as head coach, averaged 15.7 points across 33 games (29 starts). He scored a total of 519 points last year.

Diallo transferred to the Kentucky Wildcats this season, along with the other player to return to the roster last year from Sprinkle's first season, graduate center Franck Kepnang.

Seven of the eight top scorers on the team last season all either ran out of eligibility or entered the transfer portal.

The only of Washington's top eight scorers from last season to return to the team is redshirt junior guard Wesley Yates III.

Yates put up the third-most total points on the squad last season. He averaged 12.7 points across 27 games (25 starts) on 37.1% shooting (31.2% from 3-point range). He also averaged 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.3 assists. He scored a total of 344 points.

Given the amount of offensive production that has left the program this offseason, there's an added pressure going into this season for the team's returners to step up in the absence of Steinbach and Diallo. It also leaves openings for the new additions to the team to make an impact in their first years on Montlake.

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