Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544665
4 2 M A Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M B efore stepping away from the po- dium following a loss to North- western in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament in March, Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades publicly grap- pled with the reality facing his program. Fresh off a 12-20 campaign in which the Nittany Lions finished last in the con- ference standings at 3-17 in league play, a considerable lift awaited. The roster would need a significant overhaul, with few individual development successes re- flecting the team's struggles on the floor. "You've got to play the game of the landscape of college basketball," Rhoades said. "We'll do everything we can to bring the guys back that want to be here for all the right reasons, build on it, and get some really good players around them and do this right. "Since I've been here, we've had some really good wins. We just don't have enough. That's got to be the goal, and it starts with the guys that are in that locker room for all the right reasons." Over the next month, that sentiment played out in full. Nine players entered their names into the NCAA transfer portal, a group headlined by true freshman point guard Kayden Mingo. With graduating forward Josh Reed also joining the exodus, nine of the team's top 10 scorers from the 2025-26 season will not return. Of the 13 players on last season's roster — 11 of whom were on scholarship — the only returnees are rising sophomore forward Ivan Jurić and walk-ons Reggie Grodin and Chris Lotito. With the 15-day portal window now closed, Penn State's roster has been almost completely revamped. Here's where the team's personnel situation stands heading into the summer. Outgoing Transfers Mason Blackwood: One of Penn State's original 2025 commitments, the 6-foot-7 forward entered the portal April 6 and announced his transfer to St. Bo- naventure two weeks later. Blackwood appeared in 26 games, aver- aging 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per contest. He made his first career start in the Big Ten Tournament loss to Northwestern. Saša Ciani: Ciani entered the portal on April 21, the final day of the transfer win- dow. He played in 28 games and started four during his only season at Penn State, averaging 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds. Freddie Dilione V: Penn State's top scorer last season, Dilione spent two years in the program before entering the portal for his final year of eligibility. On April 16, he announced Georgia as his destination. Dilione averaged 14.0 points across 32 games (15 starts), shooting 47.3 per- cent from the field and 31.8 percent from three-point range. Justin Houser: Originally ex- pected to redshirt, Houser was pressed into action during Big Ten play due to frontcourt injuries. He appeared in 18 games, averaging 1.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in six min- utes per outing. Kayden Mingo: The 6-3, 195-pound point guard was the highest-ranked pros- pect to ever commit to Penn State, but he's gone after just one season. Entering the portal on April 8, he announced Baylor as his destination eight days later. For the season, he averaged 13.7 points, 4.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. Although sidelined twice — first by a broken nose in January and later with a suspected concussion in March — Mingo scored in double figures in 21 of 28 games and delivered a game-winner against Minnesota on Feb. 1, one of Penn State's three Big Ten victories. Tibor Mirtič: Mirtič was another late entry into the portal, doing so on April 20. The 6-9, 255-pound forward had joined the Lions last summer after playing pro- fessionally in Slovenia. Limited by inju- ries — first a knee issue, then a shoulder setback — Mirtič appeared in 15 games MEN'S BASKETBALL Penn State's Roster Undergoes A Thorough Overhaul Guard Jay Rodgers averaged 11.0 points and 6.9 assists in 30 games at Central Connecticut State last season. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS N A T E B A U E R | N A T E . B A U E R @ O N 3 . C O M