5 Who Missed Out on Husky Senior Night

For Senior Night, the University of Washington basketball team brought out Franck Kepnang, Quimari Peterson and Jacob Ognacevic before the USC game and gave them a ceremonial send-off, with a framed jersey, a photo op and applause sent their way.

None of them were original Husky recruits, though, in an overall college basketball landscape now overly consumed by transfer portal movement.

In fact, Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports determined just 22 scholarship players nationwide at high-major schools will finish where they started as this regular season pulls to a close.

Taking all of that into consideration, here's five players who were recruited by the UW four and five years ago and had things worked out and they had stayed in Montlake would have had a chance to go through the Senior Night procession in Montlake.

Jackson Grant, Samuel Ariyibi, Tyler Linhardt, Koren Johnson and Keyon Menifield.

Wild stat from a couple days ago. Wrote about the Migration Generation of college basketball in the summer for the magazine: https://t.co/I0L2cYnq0g https://t.co/QjN1mPwrju
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 6, 2026

Of that five, just two are playing this season -- and not very much.

Two were well out of college basketball even before this year began.

Another is dealing with a season-long injury.

Grant, a 6-foot-10, 205-pound forward from Olympia, Washington, had an abbreviated college career that might be the biggest head-scratcher.

He was a McDonald's All-American and the state Player of the Year who was nowhere near that build-up when he reported to the UW.

"That was during COVID when you couldn't go out and see anybody up close," said one assistant coach of how Grant might have been so overhyped.

Grant spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons at the UW playing only briefly and then ironically connected with current Husky coach Danny Sprinkle and followed him to Utah State where he almost didn't play at all in 2024. He's been out of basketball for two seasons now.

The 6-foot-1 Menifield from Flint, Michigan, was a 21-game starter and 10-point scorer for the Huskies in 2023.

Arkansas guard Keyon Menifield Jr talks to then Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman during the 2024 season. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

He transferred to Arkansas, played half a season, got into academic trouble and left school for the NBA G League. He appeared in a half-dozen pro games and got waived in November 2024.

He's been out of basketball since, though he's apparently looked into trying to restore his college eligibility.

Linhardt, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward from Seattle, played in just three games for Mike Hopkins' UW staff in 2023 before transferring to Idaho. He appeared in 51 games for the Vandals over the next two seasons, started a handful and averaged 8.2 and 8.8 points per game.

However, he hasn't played this year after getting injured and ruled out.

Mississippi guard Koren Johnson (3) drives on Mississippi State's Ja’Borri McGhee (2). | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

That leaves the 6-foot-2 Johnson from Seattle and 6-foot-8 Ariyibi from Lagos, Nigeria, trying to find their way after encountering their own career setbacks.

Johnson played 60 games in two seasons for the Huskies and even averaged 11.1 points per outing in 2024. Last year, he suffered a season-ending injury after just two games at Louisville.

This season, he transferred to Mississippi, where he's started one of 25 games and averaged just 1.8 points an outing and while shooting a difficult 26.7 percent, unable to reclaim his previous form.

Utah Tech forward Samuel Ariyibi (19) goes to the basket against Utah. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

An oft-injured Ariyibi appeared in just six games for the Huskies in 2022-24 before tranferring to Utah Tech.

He started 25 of 29 games and averaged 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 2025. This season, however, he had his role change and has started just once in 29 games and has 2.9 and 1.8 averages, respectively.

The good news for Ariyibi is on Saturday night he'll go through Senior Night ceremonies in St. George, Utah, before playing his last home game for Utah Tech.