Breaking down Penn State men’s basketball’s roster after transfer portal window closes
The Penn State men’s basketball roster has begun to take shape ahead of the 2026-2027 season, with most of the heavy lifting done for head coach Mike Rhoades and his coaching staff after the transfer portal closed. The team can still add players, but players are not able to enter the portal.
Let’s take a look at the players expected to be key contributors for the Nittany Lions this upcoming season.
Lead guards
Jay Rodgers
Andy Gemao
Rodgers is the likely starter at point guard for Penn State and could be taxed with a massive minutes workload for the Nittany Lions this year. He has decent size at 6-foot-3, and was an average shooter at 36.2% from deep last year for Central Connecticut. He’s an excellent distributor who should be able to find his teammates in the open floor and get them shots in the half court — it’s just a matter of finding someone who can soak up minutes so he isn’t overworked.
Gemao is a high-end athlete with passing ability that is more flash than substance right now. He could be a backup guard for Rhoades and the Nittany Lions, but he’s still a bench guard at best at the high major level and is highly unlikely to play real minutes this season.
Wings
Brant Byers
Robert Blums
Francois Wibaut
Roko Prkacin
Thomas Allard
Reggie Grodin
This is a large group that fills several different roles, but really it comes down to the top four, as Allard and Grodin are unlikely to be major contributors this coming season.
Byers, Blums and Wibaut would be the three likely starters from this group as things stand, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Prkacin were to start instead of Wibaut.
Byers, from Miami (Ohio), was the program’s biggest get from the portal. He’s an elite shooter (39.2% on 5.2 attempts per game from deep) with great size at 6-foot-8, and should be one of the team’s leading scorers this season. He’s going to shoot and shoot a lot and will likely be near the top of the Big Ten in 3-point attempts. He’s not a great creator, but he can attack a closeout and finish when he has space because of his size.
Blums is a little more dynamic than Byers, but is also an elite shooter. He made 40.7% of his 5.9 3-point attempts per game at Davidson last season, with a little bit more creation than Byers — both for himself and for others. He’s not a good defender but is a very good offensive player who should be a net positive for Rhoades.
Wibaut and Prkacin both come from Europe but are very different types of Wings. Wibaut is more of a ball handler who can run some offense and can guard smaller players thanks to his length and physicality, while Prkacin is better at guarder bigger players and can operate more in the post than he does out on the perimeter. Prkacin was also a former projected first round pick, but has since seen his star dim, and has become a non-shooter after showing promise from deep early in his career. If he can tap into that, he could have much more offensive upside than anticipated.
Bigs
Ivan Juric
Tim Oboh
Aleksandar Zecevic
Chris Lotito
Juric was a massive retention for Rhoades and his staff and will likely be a focal point of the offense this season. He averaged 10.2 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game, starting in 26 of the 30 games he played in and showing upside on offense. He has good athleticism for a big and has shown some ability to stretch the floor as a shooter, even if he’s still below average in that regard. The most important improvement for him will be on defense, where he was a bad rim protector as a freshman. He’s a good enough athlete to be a plus in that regard, and assistant coach Brent Scott has done a good job of developing bigs on both ends of the court.
Oboh will back him up after starting at Buffalo last season, where he averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He’s a non-threat as a shooter, but has good athleticism and mobility, which really shows on defense. He and Juric are likely to soak up all 40 minutes at center for Penn State, unless Prkacin takes minutes there.
