2025-26 Big Ten basketball season preview: Washington Huskies

Washington coach Danny Sprinkle stands on the sidelines.

With the start of college basketball season in early November, Inside the Hall is taking a team-by-team look at the Big Ten and a player-by-player look at IU basketball’s roster over the next two months.

Today, our team previews continue with Washington.

Previously: Penn State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Northwestern

After a disastrous first season in the Big Ten under new coach Danny Sprinkle, Washington will look to show progress this winter with a retooled roster.

The Huskies finished last season 13-18 overall, 4-16 in the Big Ten and missed the conference tournament. Washington ended the 2024-25 season on a six-game losing streak.

Sprinkle went heavy in the transfer portal with a robust NIL budget that should make Washington far more competitive in its second season in the conference.

The headlining portal additions were teammates last season at USC. Guards Wesley Yates III and Desmond Claude left Los Angeles for Seattle after highly productive statistical seasons.

Yates III, a 6-foot-4 redshirt sophomore, has star potential and is wired to score. He averaged 14.1 points last season for the Trojans and shot 43.9 percent on 3s. If not for a star-studded Big Ten freshman class, Yates III would have landed on the league’s All-Freshman team.

Claude, a 6-foot-6 senior, arrives after playing two seasons at Xavier and one at USC, where he averaged 15.8 points, 4.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds. Claude might not have the same upside as Yates III, but he’s an ultra-productive guard who can create offense for himself and teammates. With the additions of Claude and Yates III, the Washington backcourt should be one of the most entertaining in the conference.

It won’t be surprising if Sprinkle goes with a three-guard set to start games and pairs Claude and Yates III with East Tennessee State transfer Quimari Peterson. The 6-foot-1 senior averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and two steals in 34.5 minutes last season while shooting 42.2 percent from the field.

Washington has depth in its backcourt with returning sophomore guard Zoom Diallo, a starter for most of last season, and freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit, the No. 52 player nationally in the final 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2025 class.

The 6-foot-4 Diallo averaged 11.1 points last season as a freshman and should play a more complementary role off the bench in his second season. Mandaquit was a major recruiting win for Sprinkle and his staff, choosing the Huskies over BYU, USC and Louisville.

German freshman Hannes Steinbach has All-Freshman team potential. The 6-foot-11 forward has been pegged as a potential first-round pick in next June’s NBA draft after scoring 19 points against Team USA in the FIBA U19 World Cup over the summer. Steinbach played professionally in Germany last season, which should help him with the transition to a physical Big Ten.

The five position will be filled out by returnee Franck Kepnang, Rutgers transfer Lathan Sommerville and Mady Traore, who spent last season at the JUCO level after beginning his career at Maryland. The Huskies also have 6-foot-11 big man Christian Nitu, a Florida State transfer, for depth.

The 6-foot-11 Kepnang was productive when he played, but injuries limited him to just 14 games. The Cameroon-born big man is the best shot blocker of the bunch and should be the starter. Sommerville might be the most intriguing name in the group after a solid freshman campaign for the Scarlet Knights in which he averaged 8.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and shot 50.6 percent from the field in 20.9 minutes per game.

Two other transfer additions should figure heavily into the Washington rotation: Jacob Ognacevic from Lipscomb and Bryson Tucker from Indiana.

The 6-foot-8 Ognacevic enters his sixth season and averaged 20 points and eight rebounds last season in the ASUN. He shot 80.9 percent from the free-throw line, 63.7 percent on 2s and 41.2 percent on 3s and was one of the most efficient offensive players in the country.

Tucker, a former McDonald’s All-American, struggled in his debut season in Bloomington but is staying in the Big Ten. For Tucker to reach his potential, the Washington staff will need to push him to do more than just look for his offense.

Two Huskies that might have to wait their turn for minutes are freshmen Jasir Rencher and Courtland Muldrew. Rencher, a 6-foot-5 wing from San Francisco, was the No. 124 player nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings and Muldrew, a 6-foot-3 guard, wasn’t far behind at No. 127.

It’s hard not to like what Sprinkle did in the offseason with a roster that needed significant work. The Huskies have depth at nearly every position and have proven college production with Claude and Yates III. Steinbach is one of the highest upside players in the league and the guard depth is outstanding after it was a major issue last winter.

Bottom line: At No. 48 in Bart Torvik’s preseason projections, Washington should take a major step forward in year two of the Sprinkle era. The Huskies were viewed as an easy win for most Big Ten opponents last season, but that won’t be the case moving forward. At worst, Washington should be one of the most fun teams to watch in the league and there’s potential to get in the NCAA tournament conversation if everything comes together.

Quotable: “We’re going to play like my team at Utah State, where we’re one of the top teams in the country in tempo and scoring, because we have the players to do that I thought last year, just from a defensive (standpoint), we had to slow down the game and limit the possessions to keep ourselves in games. And a lot of that was because of our (lack of) depth, especially at the post spot. But this year we’re going to be able to play a lot faster and hopefully shoot and make a lot more threes. We have a lot more versatility.” – Sprinkle in an interview with HoopsHQ.com.

(Photo credit: Washington Athletics)

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