Washington basketball's starting center transfers to Kentucky

After spending the last four seasons as one of the faces of the Washington Huskies, Franck Kepnang will spend his final season with the Kentucky Wildcats.

On Saturday afternoon, the 6-foot-11 center from Yaounde, Cameroon, utilized the transfer portal for the second time in his college basketball career to spend what is widely expected to be his final year of eligibility with coach Mark Pope in the SEC. He will also join his former UW teammate, Zoom Diallo, who announced his intentions to make the move to Lexington in April.

After battling various injuries that limited him to just 32 games over his first three seasons on Montlake, Kepnang was able to stay healthy for the majority of the 2025-26 season for coach Danny Sprinkle, playing in 27 games and posting 6.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per contest.

During his UW career, Kepnang established himself as a tenacious defender with high-end athleticism who plays with a seemingly endless amount of energy no matter if he was in the starting lineup or coming off the bench. Over 59 career appearances, he averaged 7.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.

As Sprinkle looks to continue to build his culture ahead of his third season with the Huskies, losing Kepnang is a significant blow. His energy and passion for the program, combined with his defensive intensity, made him a key piece of everything that the head coach has been building.

Without Kepnang, the Huskies will rely on Lathan Sommerville and Mady Traore at center, along with Nikola Dzepnia, recent Brazilian acquisition Wini Braga, and Texas Tech transfer LeJuan Watts in the front court. Sprinkle has also continued to pursue Seattle University transfer Austin Maurer to round out the rotation.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies starting center announces transfer to Kentucky