Kentucky basketball adds experienced center to 2026-27 roster
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- Kentucky basketball adds 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang to 2026-27 roster.
- Kepnang previously played two seasons at Oregon and four seasons at Washington.
- Kepnang is originally from Cameroon.
Mark Pope has made another addition to his 2026-27 Kentucky basketball team.
On Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats announced the addition of Franck Kepnang to next season’s roster. Kepnang is a 6-foot-11 center who already has six seasons of college basketball experience.
He is not ranked in the 247Sports list of top transfer portal players this offseason.
Kepnang began his college career with two seasons at Oregon, before playing the past four seasons at Washington.
Kepnang will need to get a waiver approved by the NCAA in order to play for UK during the 2026-27 season. He will turn 25 years old in October, and he played his first college basketball game for Oregon in January 2021.
Three of Kepnang’s four seasons at Washington were cut short due to knee injuries.
This past season with the Huskies, Kepnang averaged 6.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He appeared in 27 games and made 25 starts for Washington during the 2025-26 season.
This represented the most game action for Kepnang since his 2021-22 season at Oregon.
For his entire six-season college career, Kepnang has appeared in 111 games and made 46 starts. He boasts career averages of 5.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per contest. Kepnang is a career 55.4% shooter from the field and a 67.7% shooter from the free-throw line.
Kepnang is the 13th player who is expected to be part of Kentucky’s 2026-27 roster. UK still has up to two roster spots left for next season’s team.
Kepnang is originally from Cameroon, and he’s in line to become the first UK basketball player from that country.
Kepnang is Kentucky’s fifth addition from the transfer portal this offseason, joining Washington sophomore guard Zoom Diallo, Furman freshman guard Alex Wilkins, Washington State junior guard Jerone Morton and James Madison junior forward Justin McBride.
Diallo and Kepnang were teammates during the past two seasons at Washington.
In addition to those five transfer portal pickups, Kentucky’s expected roster for next season also includes Senegalese forward Ousmane N’Diaye, who has professional playing experience in Europe. Pope’s program is also bringing in high school recruits Zyon Hawthorne and Mason Williams as college basketball newcomers.
UK’s roster also features five returnees from this past season’s team: Braydon Hawthorne, Malachi Moreno, Kam Williams, Trent Noah and Reece Potter. Moreno is going through the NBA Draft process, though, and he has until May 27 to withdraw from the draft and maintain his college eligibility.
Kepnang projects as a backup center for the Cats next season. Earlier this week, Pope spoke about Kentucky’s plans to add depth at center as part of a social media series in which Pope answered questions from UK fans.
This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 4:01 PM.
