Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

Kepnang Hung a 'Poster' at Iowa That's Not Coming Down Soon

The UW big man got everyone's attention with a thundering dunk that didn't count.
Dan Raley|
Franck Kepnang and Iowa forward Riley Mulvey go one-on-one in Saturday's game.
Franck Kepnang and Iowa forward Riley Mulvey go one-on-one in Saturday's game. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The University of Washington basketball team keeps losing games, close games, games at home, games in bunches, to the point the idea of advancing to the Big Ten Tournament is all but mathematically of reach. At least no one is calling the Huskies soft anymore.

The return of Franck Kepnang -- all 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds of on-court fury -- has seen to that.

On Saturday at Iowa, the explosive big man from Cameroon demonstrated once more why his earlier 17-game absence likely ruined the first season in Montlake for Danny Sprinkle and why the coach has made it known he intends to do everything to get a medical redshirt and have this guy return for next season.

The UW's Franck Kepnang and Iowa's Seydou Traore go up for the opening tipoff Saturday in Iowa City.
The UW's Franck Kepnang and Iowa's Seydou Traore go up for the opening tipoff Saturday in Iowa City. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

With 16:12 left to play in Iowa City, and the Huskies nursing a 42-38 lead in what would end up as an 85-79 loss, Kepnang did something amazing, something ferocious, something very few UW basketball players ever get to do or even think about doing.

He "posterized " Iowa's Riley Mulvey, which is basketball slang for embarrassing, overwhelming and downright frightening your opponent.

Kepnang picked up a loose ball near midcourt, incredibly took two giant steps and threw one down in a thunderous manner on the helpless Hawkeye, leaving his opponent on the floor, the crowd in disbelief and Husky teammates hugging each other in sheer glee on the bench.

"Oh my!" exclaimed the FS1 broadcast crew.

Unfortunately for the UW, the officiating crew whistled an offensive foul on Kepnang on a play that seemingly could have gone either way against the 6-foot-11, 245-pound Mulvey in the contact-is-usually-encouraged Big Ten Conference.

While Husky freshmen Dominique Diomande and Jase Butler were shown by a TV camera holding onto to each other and jumping around as if they had witnessed something outer galaxy, Kepnang headed back up the floor looking a little devious and twirling his fingers overhead as if to say, "Chalk one up for me."

His poster, count it or not, was something to behold.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
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.

Home/Basketball