Frank Kepnang made 41 starts for Washington. (Washington Athletics Photo)
Kentucky has found needed inside help for the 2026-27 basketball season with the signing of 6-foot-11, 250-pound Washington transfer Franck Kepnang.
His signing was announced on the UK Sports Network X account. He had Zoom calls with Michigan, Michigan State, and Oklahoma State before meeting with Kentucky this week and then signing with coach Mark Pope.
The Big Ten transfer started his collegiate career and played two years at Oregon. The Yaoundé, Cameroon native played 59 games in four years at Washington with 41 starts and averaged 7.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
He was listed as a graduate student last season when he started 15 games and ranked third in the Big Ten with 55 blocks. He averaged 6.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and shot 51.5 percent from the field.
Kepnang had 115 blocks in four seasons at Washington but he also had only 10 assists in his 59 games.
“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,” Roman Tomashoff of UWHuskieswire wrote after the signing was announced.
Kepnang was a top 50 overall recruit in the 2021 recruiting class and was rated as high as No. 22 by ESPN. Among centers he was ranked fourth nationally ESPN, fifth by Rivals and eighth by 247Sports
Since he has already played six years of college basketball — he played in 35 games for Oregon during the 2021-22 season — but has had two seasons cut short by injuries. He will need a NCAA waiver to be able to play a seventh season but Pope and UK obviously feel that will not be a problem and will be counting on him for inside muscle to back up Malachi Moreno — unless he stayed in the NBA Draft.
Earlier Washington point guard Zoom Diallo also transferred from Washington to Kentucky. The Huskies were 16-17 last season and 7-13 in Big Ten play with 10-point losses to national champion Michigan and Illinois, a Final Four team.
Here is a look at his collegiate career from the Washington media guide:
2025-26 (GRADUATE STUDENT)
• Appeared in 27 games, starting 25
• Ranks third in the Big Ten in total blocks (55) and blocks per game (2.07)
• Matched career-high 12 rebounds and set new career-high of six blocks in UW’s 2OT win over Southern (11/18)
• Knocked down all six field goals en route to a season high 15 points in 24 minutes against Nevada (11/27), adding five rebounds and four blocks
• Rejected five shots, grabbed eight boards and scored nine points in the comeback victory at No. 24 USC (2/6)
• Scored nine points, reeled in seven rebounds and blocked three shouts against Southern Utah (12/13)
• Pulled down nine rebounds at Seattle U (12/19)
• Grabbed 10 boards and matched career-high with six blocks against Utah (12/29)
• Secured first double double since 2023 at No. 5 Purdue (1/7), posting 10 points and 10 rebounds
• Had seven rebounds and 2 blocks in UW’s win against Ohio State (1/11)
• Posted eight points, six boards and three blocks vs. No. 4 Michigan (1/14)
• Made 6-of-8 field goals for 13 points, adding five rebounds and a pair of blocks vs. No. 12 Michigan State (1/17)
• Garnered second double double of the season with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds vs. Oregon (1/25)
• Tied career high six blocks for the third time, while grabbing nine rebounds, at Northwestern (1/31)
2024-25 (REDSHIRT-SENIOR)
• Appeared in 14 games with eight starts, averaging 19.9 minutes per game
• Started final six games of the season
• Led team shooting 53.3 percent from the field
• Shot 80.0 percent from the free throw line, making 16-of-20 attempts
• Blocked 1.9 shots per game, posting multiple rejections eight times
• Averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds
• Posted 10 points on 5-10 from the field in the season opener vs. UC Davis (11/5)
• Returned from 19-game absence due to injury against UCLA (1/24), posting seven points and eight rebounds
• locked a career-high five shots and four steals, adding 14 points and five rebounds at Penn State (2/15)
• Made 6-of-7 shots for 12 points, matching his season-high with eight rebounds at Iowa (2/22)
• Posted 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks vs. Indiana (3/1)
• Scored 12 points on 4-6 shooting, making all four free throws and pulling down seven boards vs. Oregon (3/9)
2023-24 (SENIOR)
• Nine points in season opener against Bellarmine (11/6)
• Career-high 12 rebounds in win over Xavier (11/17)
• Recorded his second career double-double with 16 points (7-11) and 11 rebounds against Montana State (12/5), adding three blocks
• Career-high five blocks to go along with 14 points and seven rebounds in upset win over No. 7 Gonzaga (12/09)
• Came off the bench in eight games with one start before suffering a season-ending injury
• Career day against North Florida (11/11/22), setting new personal bests for rebounds (11), field goals made (8) and field goal attempts (13) in 16-point effort
2021-22 (SOPHOMORE – OREGON)
• One of five Ducks to play in all 35 games, making five starts
• Averaged 4.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 14.5 minutes
• Career-high 17 points (7-9 FG) on 12/5 vs. ASU
• Grabbed a season-high nine rebounds twice on 2/24 in the win over UCLA, and in the first round NIT win over Utah State
• Blocked a season-high four shots three times, including the road win over No. 5 ranked USC
• Had at least one block in 23 games and one or more steal in eight games
2020-21 (FRESHMAN – OREGON)
• Saw action in 17 games after joining the team at the end of the fall term
• Shot 67.9 percent from the field (19-of-28)
• Led Oregon in blocks nine times
• Best offensive game of the season came in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen game against USC, where he had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting
• Led Oregon with two blocks to go with four points in the NCAA Second Round win against Iowa
• Reclassified to join the 2020-21 team and enrolled in classes following the fall term
5 Responses
Pope signs another "maybe" player. Is that the only center position player that is willing to come play for Pope? I guess Kepnang looks at it like he has nothing to lose. If the NCAA fails to grant the waiver, he was done playing college ball anyway. Signing Kepnang fills a void IF, and that is a mighty big IF, he gets the waiver. By signing Kepnang, the chances of signing another center are slim. IF Kepnang gets the waiver AND IF Moreno comes back, Kentucky already has the 7'1" Potter as an emergency reserve…so there would be no playing time slotted for another center. BUT, what IF Kepnang doesn't get the waiver; and what IF Moreno doesn't come back? Potter becomes the starting center!!??? Pope has pulled another Jayden Quaintance gamble that MIGHT pay dividends for the team, but MIGHT not even see him in a uniform! Why does Pope do stuff like that? He already bet the farm on signing Stokes and that didn't happen, plus Stokes held off on making a decision until late so Kentucky was left standing without a chair when the music stopped. Pope is recruiting on a "hope and a prayer" strategy. It shows that he does not have a plan, much less the ability to execute it. It's his ass on the line! Another double digit loss season and he is history! Barnhart letting Pope stay another year is his way of giving BBN the middle finger as our men's basketball program continues to fall apart. President Capilouto letting Barnhart do so is also pointing his middle finger at BBN as well.
Exactly Barry and the thing I don't understand is when I don't feel the coach is the right fit here I stop going to the games. That's the only way the president and athletic director understand that we don't accept this garbage. Look at this guy he's going to be playing in his 7th college basketball season and has never averaged double digit points or rebounds and he's never been healthy. How are you hurt during your whole college career. He only played in 59 games across 4 years which means every year he was injured. How does that even happen in basketball. It's rare in football so how the heck does it happen in basketball. If he does play with his track record you can almost guarantee he will sit out multiple games with a injury. If Moreno stays in the draft which as of today it's getting more and more likely that he will and if he does what does that say for Pope?? He could have had 12 guys return off last year's team and only had t guys come back?? 2 didn't even play they were redshirts and how stupid is that now? These guys get 5 years to play seasons now and he couldn't even get Aberdeen our second leading scorer to come back. Aberdeen wasn't even a point guard you have to remember that and played out of position which is a common theme here with Pope and he couldn't get him to come back and Aberdeen will probably be like a second or third team all SEC type of 2 guard next year. Nobody who is any good wants to play for Pope. How can you be that bad at evaluating players and again I day Cody Freuger Popes little today is garbage. His analytics don't evaluate players correctly. You can have ok stats and be a terrible teammate. Last year's team was considered a top 5 team before the year started. Remember JQ was supposed to be back in September of last year hahaha. Pope and Feuger should be fired and be on the next plane out of Lexington. They need to live in Utah. Nobody wants to play for a Mormon coach who they can't relate to at all.
If the NCAA implements the 5 for 5 policy, (it looks like they will) he will not get the waiver. There will be no redshirts or medical waivers. No one will be grandfatherd in. A complete waist of time on this guy.
The 5 for 5 will go into play after the 2026-27 season
He's definitely a load. Like it alot