Penn State Sports Magazine
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O C T O B E R 2 0 2 6 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M has played on several of his country's youth national teams, starting at the U-16 level. A year ago, he averaged 9.1 points and 4.0 rebounds at the FIBA U-20 EuroBasket tournament. It was unclear as of mid-September how many years of college eligibility the two European expats will have; Penn State did not list an academic class for either player on its official roster. In addition to their international re- cruiting efforts, the Nittany Lions also worked the transfer portal to find play- ers with multiple seasons of collegiate experience. They welcomed junior for- ward Tim Oboh (formerly of Buffalo), junior guard Roberts Blums (Davidson), redshirt junior swingman Brant Byers (Miami of Ohio), senior guard Jay Rod- gers (Central Connecticut State), and graduate guards Dasonte Bowen (St. Bonaventure) and Thomas Allard (Ala- bama-Huntsville). All six of those newcomers played at least two years of college basketball prior to their arrival in State College. It's also possible those players will have an opportunity to team up with forward Josh Reed. In July, Reed was among a group of players granted a fifth year of eligibility following an Ohio court in- junction. That ruling was later over- turned, putting Reed in limbo until late September when a final resolution of the case is expected. Even without Reed back in the lineup, Penn State is now dramatically older and more experienced. Rhoades admit- ted recently that the change in philoso- phy was a necessity, not a preference. "Last year, we went with a really young team with a lot of freshmen," he said. "Everybody in the league got bigger and older and deeper with older guys, and we just couldn't do that. So we sort of pivoted on some of the deci- sions. You've got to learn from decisions you've made. "Hopefully, even though we're very limited in a lot of resources, we were trying to get some older guys with expe- rience, and find a way to get them here. And I think we did a good job of that with what we have." Rhoades' acknowledgment of the need for older players came with a ca- veat: The only newcomer with previous Big Ten experience is Bowen, who spent his first two seasons at Iowa, where he appeared in 51 games and made eight starts, before transferring to St. Bo- naventure in 2024. While the new-look roster has extensive college and inter- national experience, there's very little familiarity with the conference. "Some of these guys have played a lot of college basketball, but they're tak- ing a huge step to play in the Big Ten," Rhoades said. "But hopefully, with ma- turity and guys having that experience under their belt, that's going to help us. That was a priority. You've just got to find ways to be creative as best you can." Nonconference Slate Comes Together The Nittany Lions' 12-game non- conference schedule for the upcoming campaign is set. Mike Rhoades' fourth season at the helm will begin Nov. 2, when the Nit- tany Lions play host to Canisius at the Bryce Jordan Center. From there, they'll take on 11 more teams, making two in- state trips and participating in a two- game tournament in the Bahamas over Thanksgiving week. The two marquee matchups on the nonconference slate will be played against in-state opponents at ven- ues within the state. The first of those games will take place Nov. 8 when Penn State tangles with Pitt in a neutral-site clash at the Palestra in Philadelphia. It will be the 150th all-time matchup be- tween the two programs, with the Nit- tany Lions holding a narrow 76-73 lead in the series. The second in-state trip will take the Nittany Lions back to the GIANT Cen- ter in Hershey to cap the nonconfer- ence slate. Penn State will face Saint Joseph's on Dec. 22, before breaking for the Christmas holiday. Among the other highlights on the schedule, Penn State will welcome for- mer point guard Dan Earl back to his alma mater when the fifth-year head coach leads Chattanooga to the BJC on Nov. 5. In addition, the Nittany Lions will head to the Bahamas to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. They'll open against Memphis on Nov. 25 and will face either Mississippi State or Wake Forest two nights later. Wake Forest was 69th in the NCAA's NET rankings last year, best among the teams that PSU could play in its upcom- ing nonconference schedule. Of the op- ponents that it will definitely play, Pitt was ranked highest, finishing 106th. The Nittany Lions' Big Ten sched- ule hadn't been announced as of mid- September, but the Lions did know who they'll be playing and how often they'll be playing them. There will be seven single-plays at home, seven single-plays on the road and three Big Ten foes they'll play both home and away. The opponent break- down is as follows (final NCAA NET rankings in parentheses): Home and away: Nebraska (12), Ohio State (30), Rutgers (136) Home only: Indiana (41), Maryland (131), Michigan (1), Northwestern (61), Oregon (107), Purdue (8), Washington (55) Away only: Illinois (5), Iowa (22), Minnesota (82), Michigan State (11), UCLA (31), USC (77), Wisconsin (27) ■ Penn State 2026-27 Nonconference Schedule Date Opponent Time/TV Oct. 17 St. Bonaventure (Exh.)* TBA Oct. 26 at Drexel (Exh.) TBA Nov. 2 CANISIUS TBA Nov. 5 CHATTANOOGA TBA Nov. 8 Pitt** TBA Nov. 12 MERCYHURST TBA Nov. 15 NEW HAVEN TBA Nov. 18 IU INDY TBA Nov. 25 Memphis^ 5 p.m./ESPNU Nov. 27 Wake Forest/Miss. St.^ TBA Dec. 1 UALBANY Dec. 16 UT MARTIN Dec. 19 LAFAYETTE ^^ Dec. 22 Saint Joseph's # * at KeyBank Center, Buffalo ** at the Palestra, Philadelphia ^ Battle 4 Atlantis at Paradise Island, Bahamas ^^ at Rec Hall # at GIANT Center, Hershey, Pa.