Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544053
A P R I L 2 0 2 6 4 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M THREE STARS 1. Ivan Jurić | F | Fr. During a season with little for the Nittany Lions to celebrate, the develop- ment of Jurić — the 7-foot, 250-pound true freshman who committed to the team in May 2025 — was a notable win. He produced some of his best bas- ketball in the season's homestretch, posting a season-high 22 points, along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists, in the Lions' 76-66 loss to Northwestern on March 10 in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. 2. Josh Reed | F | Sr. The star performer in Penn State's last win of the year, Reed poured in a season-high 25 points in a 71-69 upset of Iowa on Feb. 28, including a 3-of-4 effort from beyond the arc. His showing against Ohio State on senior day, a 94-62 loss on March 4, was much less memorable for the Cincinnati transfer; in his final home game, he had just 3 points with 2 rebounds in 29 minutes. On the whole, though, Reed was a stabilizing force and a critical addition to the Nittany Lions via the portal. 3. Kayden Mingo | G | Fr. Through a true freshman campaign that was interrupted at midseason by a broken nose, Mingo demonstrated the kind of potential that bodes well for his future at Penn State. He made 28 starts and finished second on the team with a 13.7-point scoring average while adding 4.3 assists per game. KEY MOMENT Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades didn't wait to hear the end of the question. Asked about turnovers at a March press conference — particularly the open-floor errors that grew more frequent as the season went on — Rhoades interjected. "That's the killer," he said. "It's those ones where you cannot defend. I'd rather us throw it out of bounds and get back and set our defense and give ourselves a chance to get it back than just put the ball out there, the guy slaps it, boom, they get a layup. You can't defend that. Those are the killers." Turnovers were a big reason why the Nittany Lions were the No. 18 seed at the Big Ten tourney, and they proved costly again versus Northwestern. PSU turned it over 17 times, and the Wildcats converted those giveaways into 24 points. By contrast, Northwestern had only 8 turnovers, which led to just 7 points for PSU. BEST HIGHLIGHT Against visiting Iowa, the Nittany Lions saw a late lead evaporate under all too familiar circumstances. Mingo had already been forced out of the game and went straight to the locker room with an unspecified injury late in the second half. In his absence, live-ball turnovers led to uncontested buckets for the visiting Hawkeyes. On one particular Iowa possession, the Nittany Lions' rebounding deficiency was magnified to an extreme. The Hawkeyes came up with 3 offensive boards before Bennett Stirtz turned it over while driving into the paint. Although the possession seemed to last forever, Penn State showed resolve. "I think we were on defense for almost two minutes, but then we got the stop," Rhoades said. "We could have folded right there, and we didn't. We found a way." BOLD PREDICTION Football is of course the most resource-intensive sport at Penn State, and it took precedence over men's basketball last year while gearing up for a national championship run that never materialized. That won't happen again for Rhoades and his staff, who are approaching a defining fourth year of their tenure. With Penn State coming off a 12-20 season that set new marks for futility, influential supporters of the program will demand a more forceful investment when the transfer portal opens on April 7. Will it be on par with the best of the Big Ten? No chance. But even if PSU simply emerges from the conference basement in terms of talent acquisition and retention, it would be a marked improvement over last year. — Nate Bauer PENN STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL SUPERLATIVES F E B . 2 8 - M A R C H 1 0 Forward Ivan Juri averaged 10.2 points and a team best 5.3 rebounds per game in his debut season with the Nittany Lions. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS