Inside The Huskies

Huskies Turn to International Talent Pool Again, Add Serbian

Nikola Dzepina played against the UW's Hannes Steinbach in the U19 World Cup this past summer.
Dan Raley|
Nikola Dzepina played in the U19 World Cup against Hannes Steinbach.
Nikola Dzepina played in the U19 World Cup against Hannes Steinbach. | FIBA

The University of Washington basketball team continues to bring a decided international flavor to its roster after signing Nikola Dzepina, a Serbian national team forward, on Tuesday, the school confirmed.

The 6-foot-9 Dzepina, who played for his country's U19 entry this past summer, will enroll at the UW in time to play during winter quarter.

He'll join a Danny Sprinkle Husky team that already counts Germany's 6-foot-11 forward Hannes Steinbach as a potential showcase player as a freshman and has a recent U20 Romanian national team member in 6-foot-11 Christian Nitu.

Add to them a Frenchman in the injured 6-foot-11 Mady Traore, a former Maryland and New Mexico State player who's out for the season with a foot issue.

"Nikola possesses an uncommon blend of both size and skill that makes him a unique addition to our roster for the back half of the schedule," Sprinkle said in a release. "His play during this summer's U19 World Cup really caught the eye of our staff."

Dzepina and Steinbach, in fact, went head to head this past summer in Switzerland in the U19 World Cup.

In a 92-83 German victory, Steinbach had the definite upper hand with a 36-point, 19-rebound outing while his future teammate was limited to 7 points and a rebound for the Serbs.

Dzepina, who most recently has played for a Valencia pro team in Spain, represents the second targeted Serbian player for the UW since Sprinkle took over.

At one time, the Huskies had a commitment from 6-foot-10 Niko Bundalo, who grew up in Ohio but played high school basketball in California last winter while maintaining his Serbian national-team connections.

However, the UW and the highly recruited player went different directions in the offseason by mutual agreement, with Bundalo ending up at Ole Miss.

In Switzerland this past summer, Dzepina averaged 16.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game for a Serbian team that went 3-3 in World Cup play.

He had his best showing with a 34-point, 7-rebound performance in a 94-88 victory over the Dominican Republic.

The Huskies needed to add another big man after Traore suffered his season-ending foot injury in practice, Lipscomb 6-foot-8 transfer Jacob Ognacevic hurt a foot that will keep him out until January and Nitu likewise had a foot issue that has put him in a protective boot.

Sprinkle's team had six players overall who were injured and on the sideline for last Sunday's 77-62 exhibition victory over UNLV at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Steinbach was the dress-rehearsal standout against the Runnin' Rebels with a game-best 24 points and 16 rebounds, while freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit supplied a game-high 12 assists.

The Huskies have less than two weeks to get ready for their season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at home on Monday, Nov. 3.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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