Deep inside the Bryce Jordan Center in a revamped media room, head coach Mike Rhoades met with reporters on Wednesday to preview the 2025-26 men’s basketball season.
With just weeks until the Nittany Lions tip off against Fairfield on Nov. 3 and just days after they were picked by coaches to finish last in the Big Ten, Rhoades provided insight into his team’s offseason development.
Here’s what he had to say.
Youth movement
Penn State’s 13-man roster includes eight freshmen, making it the youngest in the Big Ten and one of the youngest in the country, per Rhoades.
“We have a very young and inexperienced team, but it’s been an absolute honor and privilege of coaching these guys,” Rhoades said. “It’s been a lot of fun to build and bond this team together, and we’ve been getting after it since June.”
While upperclassmen are more proven, Penn State isn’t a transfer destination and its NIL lags behind conference peers. To overcome the deficit, the team gets creative, taking chances on freshmen and bringing in international recruits.
Going global
A growing international pipeline has emerged as a key piece of that strategy. Rhoades noted that Penn State can offer European players a unique combination of competitive compensation, high-level exposure and professional development — something many overseas leagues can’t match.
He credited the team’s strong international ties to current assistant coaches and former pros Brent Scott, Talor Battle and Joe Crispin — all of whom spent significant time playing in international leagues.
“Everybody’s paying to get older and more mature,” Rhoades said. “We did it a different route. But what I love is they’re very hungry. They’re living in the gym. There’s a high level of basketball character, and you could build on that, without a doubt, and you can improve quickly on that as well.”
Freshman guard Melih Tunca, from Istanbul, Turkey, said he felt an immediate connection to the coaching staff when he first met them in his home country.
“I played in the (Eurocup), but I wanted to experience something (different), I like to take risks,” Tunca said. “So I wanted to see, what’s basketball like here? This is going to be a step for my bigger goal.”
Mingo’s maturation
Of the eight freshmen, none enter with more expectations than guard Kayden Mingo — the highest-rated recruit in program history. But Rhoades said the four-star prospect has matched the moment with poise and humility.
“(Mingo) comes from an impressive family, a winning basketball program in high school, a winning AAU program against the best players in the country, more than held his own,” Rhoades said. “High character young man on and off the court, thinks of his teammates before himself, for a college freshman, very mature and even-keeled.”
Rhoades said Mingo would make a great quarterback due to his poise and playmaking ability. Mingo said the biggest thing he’s had to learn is making quicker reads, a key trait for the projected starting point guard, though he’s “adjusting pretty well.”
In order for the Nittany Lions to outperform their preseason expectations and achieve their goal of making the NCAA Tournament, Mingo’s development will be central to the team’s success.
