Rebuilding a Washington men’s basketball team besieged by a bevy of transfers and whittled down to just two players, began Tuesday morning when Rutgers center Lathan Sommerville reportedly committed to the Huskies.
The 6-foot-10, 275-pound freshman visited Montlake over the weekend and chose UW over Butler and Villanova.
Sommerville is the first transfer to join Washington since the portal opened last week and stems the tide of defections that’s made headlines for several days.
Coach Danny Sprinkle still needs to find eight more players, but UW’s first pickup signifies his intent on beefing up a Husky frontcourt that was hit hard with injuries and often overran by Big Ten opponents.
Sommerville played in all 32 games at Rutgers, which finished 15-17, and made 15 straight starts in the second half of the season before returning to the bench for the last two games.
He averaged 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 50.6% from the field and 86.3% on free throws. He posted a personal-best 17 points against Michigan and tallied a career-high nine rebounds three times.
During an 89-85 overtime win at Washington, Sommerville had eight points on 2-for-4 shooting and four rebounds in 22 minutes before fouling out.
A year ago, Sommerville was a four-star recruit at Richwoods High in from Peoria, Ill., and ranked 87th nationally by ESPN. He averaged 26.3 points, 14.4 rebounds, 4.2 blocks and 4.1 assists as a senior.
Sommerville and Franck Kepnang, who is returning for his sixth year, gives Washington experienced options at center along with junior college transfer Mady Traore, a 6-11 post player who played a season at Maryland before transferring to Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas.
Reportedly, Washington has expressed interest in Nevada forward Nick Davidson, Utah Valley guard Tanner Toolson, LSU guard Vyctorius Miller and UCF guard Keyshawn Hall.
The portal closes in three weeks on April 22.
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