Penn State basketball lands coveted transfer point guard Ace Baldwin

The first piece of the puzzle for Penn State basketball’s next chapter arrived early on Easter Sunday. And it’s a big one.

Announcing his decision via Twitter, Adrian “Ace” Baldwin committed to play for the Nittany Lions. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound point guard from Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy is making the move from VCU. He spent the past three seasons in Richmond, Va., electrifying the Atlantic 10.

The reigning conference player of the year and defensive player of the year, Baldwin helped lift the Rams with his 12.7 points, 5.8 assists, and 2.9 rebounds over 34.9 minutes per game last season. In the process, he guided VCU to a 27-8 overall record, an A10 championship (15-3), an A10 Tournament title, and the NCAA Tournament.

A winner’s performance, former VCU coach Mike Rhoades, now at the helm at Penn State, praised Baldwin with the highest of compliments.

“He’s the head of our snake, he’s the competitive leader in our program, he’s that type of point guard that he makes an impact,” Mike Rhoades said last month, one day before the Rams’ first-round matchup with St. Mary’s in the dance. “I’ve always said that from a long time ago, the best players, not because of their stat line, are the ones that impact winning in so many ways.

“The greatest compliment you can get in a team sport is you make those around you better. That’s Ace on a daily basis.”

Scouting Ace Baldwin

In VCU’s case last season, that point was driven home early. Absent for four games in November due to a broken right wrist, the Rams lost two of the seven decisions they’d lose during the duration of the regular season.

Finishing as the Rams’ leader in points and assists, Baldwin’s versatility stands out on the stat sheet the most. He rebounds, shoots 3-pointers, and routinely gets to the free throw line off the dribble. He also rarely gets into foul trouble and doesn’t turn the ball over. And he’s been doing it for three seasons. He began his career with the Rams during the COVID season of 2020-21, earning a spot on the A10 All-Rookie Team. Then he followed it with a second-team all-conference nod in 21-22. And, most recently, he produced his decorated 22-23 campaign.

But, according to Rhoades, Baldwin’s impact extends well beyond those awards or the numbers that delivered them.

“His competitive spirit, his competitive fire, he doesn’t like to lose. He’s emotional in a good way, and he pulls guys along,” Rhoades said. “I think the one thing that Ace does better than everyone that we know is he gives out confidence to his teammates, competitive confidence to his teammates that, as much as a coach you want to pump your players up, when a teammate, when the best player on the team is giving out that confidence to their teammates, everybody plays better. Everybody plays hard. Everybody plays the right way.

“You can’t quit. He won’t let guys quit. That’s just who he is. He was always like that. St. Frances Academy is a great high school program. He’s a point guard from Baltimore. We’ve seen a lot of those guys do well in college basketball and beyond that. Ace is one of those guys.”

Facing St. Louis on Feb. 3, Baldwin poured in a career-high 37 points, connecting on 12-15 shooting and a 4-5 clip from deep, over 38 minutes. The performance cemented a key 73-65 road win en route to the conference title.

Future Penn State impact

A left-handed true point guard, Rhoades and the Nittany Lions are counting on Baldwin to continue that trajectory. Taking over a program in which the top five scorers from Penn State’s NCAA Tournament team exhausted their eligibility or moved on to the NBA, Baldwin’s transfer is the first step toward building a team for next season.

Critical in his influence, the Nittany Lions will look to use Baldwin’s commitment as a springboard into other portal pickups. Maybe more important, the same is true of the potential to retain current Penn State players exploring their options.

While Jalen Pickett, Seth Lundy, Andrew Funk, Myles Dread, Camren Wynter, and Mikey Henn moved on, transfer portal entries from Dallion Johnson, Caleb Dorsey, and true freshmen Jameel Brown, Evan Mahaffey, and Kebba Njie are all reversible. The only two scholarship players technically still with the program for next season are point guard Kanye Clary and Demetrius Lilly, also true freshmen.

Three Penn State signees from the Class of 2023 also sought releases from their letters of intent. Those players include Braeden Shrewsberry, Logan Imes, and Penn State legacy and On3 Top 100 forward Carey Booth.