Nebraska Basketball Lands Washington Transfer, Former Pac-12 All-Defense Selection

Nebraska has landed its fifth commitment from the transfer portal this offseason in Braxton Meah, and he’ll fill a badly needed role for Fred Hoiberg’s 2024-25 team.

Meah, a 7-foot-1, 250-pounder who announced his commitment on Instagram, spent the past two seasons at Washington, where played in 63 total games with 47 starts. Meah, a native of Layton, Utah, began his career at Fresno State, where he spent two seasons and played in 55 games without any starts.

Nebraska badly needed to find size, muscle, rebounding and rim protection in the transfer portal this offseason, and Meah checks off all those boxes. He’ll have one season of eligibility remaining.

Meah’s first season at Washington, the 2022-23 campaign, was his best. He started all 31 games he played in and averaged 27.3 minutes, 8.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 70% from the field. Meah led the team in blocks that season with 50 and grabbed 72 offensive boards. He earned a Pac-12 All-Defense honor.

Injuries were a big part of Meah’s 2023-24 campaign. He sprained an ankle in the team’s preseason overseas trip to France, and the injury lingered into the season and impacted his play. He also suffered a hand injury during the season as well. On top of all that, Meah had to battle for playing time with Oregon transfer Franck Kepnang, who wound up injuring a knee and only played in the first 10 games.

Meah wound up playing 32 games with 16 starts in 2023-24 and saw his minutes decrease to 16.8 per game. Meah finished the season averaging 5.3 points and 5.3 rebounds to go along with 27 blocks. Doing nearly all of his work in the paint and mostly scoring on dunks, he shot 77% from the field.

This past season Meah scored in double-figures six times and had three double-doubles. His season-high of 19 points came in a win over UCLA in late February. He reached his season-high of 14 rebounds twice — both against Arizona State.

As is the case with many bigs, Meah has had his stuggles at the free-throw line. He shot 49% this past season (34-of-69), but did better in 2022-23 with 69% (58-of-84).

Meah joins North Dakota State forward Andrew Morgan, Utah/Utah State guard Rollie Worster, Rutgers guard/forward Gavin Griffiths and Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian as transfer additions to Hoiberg’s program.

Nebraska returns two core pieces to its roster next season in guard Brice Williams and forward Juwan Gary, who will both be in their sixth years. Forward Rienk Mast could be a third, but hasn’t yet announced if he’ll return to the program for his sixth and final season or play professionally overseas.

The Huskers also return veteran point guard Ahron Ulis, who joined the team from Iowa last offseason but wasn’t eligible to play due to his involvement in the Iowa gambling scandal.

Nebraska will bring in two true freshmen in Nick Janowski of Pewaukee (Wis.) and Braden Frager of Lincoln (Neb.) Southwest. Janowski averaged 30.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game as a senior while shooting 37% from 3-point range (86-of-231) and 84% from the free-throw line (221-of-263).

Nebraska now has two scholarships left to fill out the 2024-25 roster. Here’s a look at the current make up of the team: