Penn State men’s basketball star guard Kayden Mingo entering transfer portal, per source
Penn State men’s basketball is set to lose its best player. Star guard Kayden Mingo is entering the transfer portal, a source confirmed to the Centre Daily Times.
Mingo’s entry was first reported by Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony.
The rising sophomore was the highest rated recruit in program history and had a promising freshman season for the Nittany Lions and head coach Mike Rhoades. He averaged 13.7 points per game and was the team’s second-leading scorer, while tacking on 3.5 rebounds per game, third on the team, and 4.3 assists per game to lead Penn State.
Mingo excels at getting to the rim and has shown the ability to operate well both off and on the ball.
The young guard continually showed improvement throughout the season and was expected to be the leader of the program — even indicating his intentions to return in a postgame press conference following the team’s exit from the Big Ten Tournament.
“I’m very, very, very grateful and very blessed for the whole season,” Mingo told reporters in Chicago. “...And going into next season, I’m really looking forward to fixing a lot of things that I could do better to help the team win and be back here and win more games. That’s the most important thing, winning more games.”
With his expected departure, Penn State will be losing five of its six leading scorers from this year’s team, with Mingo joining leading scorer Freddie Dilione V (portal) along with Josh Reed (graduation), Melih Tunca (portal) and Eli Rice (portal).
This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 10:04 AM.
