Inside The Huskies

UW Adds Another Fresno State Big Man, Hoping This One Lasts Longer

The Huskies pick up 7-foot-1 Braxton Meah from the Mountain West team.

Dan Raley

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The University of Washington basketball team is adding a Fresno State transfer to its roster, someone who exceeds 7 feet tall, grew up in that central California city and attended San Joaquin Memorial High School.

Here's hoping this big-man move ends up better than the first one involving these schools.

Eight years after the Robert Upshaw experiment failed, the Huskies welcome 7-foot-1 Braxton Meah to Montlake as they continue their painstaking rebuilding efforts under coach Mike Hopkins.

The 7-foot, 250-pound Meah, previously recruited by Hopkins' staff when leaving San Joaquin High, comes north after playing sparingly for two seasons at Fresno State. He averaged just 2.2 points and 2.2 rebounds while appearing in 32 games for the 23-13 Bulldogs team.

Braxton Meah dunk with two hands.
Braxton Meah mostly dunked for Fresno State / USA TODAY Sports photo

Not a big scorer, Meah had just one double-figure game when he converted 6 of 6 shots for a career-best 14 points in an 80-71 victory over Youngstown State in the postseason The Basketball Classic. He made 29 of 37 shots this winter, most coming on dunks. He has three seasons of eligibility left. 

Similar to Upshaw, who now plays professionally in Belarus, Meah will go from San Joaquin Memorial High to Fresno State to the UW. Husky assistant coach Quincy Pondexter also prepped at San Joaquin Memorial. 

Robert Upshaw transferred from Fresno State to the UW and played 19 games for the Huskies in 2014-15.
Robert Upshaw transferred from Fresno State to the UW and played in 2014-15 :: Russell Isabelli/USA TODAY Sports

The highly regarded Upshaw played a single season for the hometown Bulldogs before getting dismissed from the team because of substance-abuse issues.

Then UW coach Lorenzo Romar took a chance on him and, after redshirting, Upshaw averaged 10.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and a nation-leading 4.5 blocks through 19 games of the 2014-15 season. Once again, he was booted from his team for his personal demons and turned pro.

Meah will contend with 6-foot-11, 250-pound Franck Kepnang, a transfer from Oregon, for playing time. Both have been brought in to beef up a front line that previously revolved around Nate Roberts, who passed up his final year of eligibility.

Meah and Kepnang make the Huskies decidedly taller, though neither one is a big point-producer. 

They'll team with a third transfer, 6-foot-5 Noah Williams, a Washington State transfer. 

The UW returns just one starter from a 17-14 team in 6-foot-6 swingman Jamal Bey, providing he returns, 

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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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