Penn State sophomore forward Kebba Njie enters transfer portal
The start of Mike Rhoades’ tenure at Penn State was difficult before he was named head coach last week. Taking over a program losing six seniors, including its top five scorers, Rhoades and his staff acknowledged an immediate need for roster building.
Describing as much in his introductory press conference Thursday, the Nittany Lions’ hands have been full from the start.
“(The transfer portal is the) landscape of college basketball now, but I think it’s more important to get everything right. We owe it to the program, and you owe it to what you’re trying to do, to get it right,” Rhoades said. “Now it’s time to go recruit. It’s time to build relationships with these young guys that are here.
“We’re going to be very active recruiting, and that’s why our staff is here. And that’s what you gotta do. We gotta go build a roster. But I assure you this, we’re going to do it right. And we’re going to do it so we can build this to last. That’s very important.”
Monday afternoon, that challenge grew again. Kebba Njie, a 6-foot-10, 237-pound forward, entered the NCAA transfer portal after his debut season in the program.
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Njie played in all 37 games for the Nittany Lions last season, starting 26. He averaged 3.4 points and 3.5 rebounds over 14.3 minutes per outing. The numbers were good to make Njie Penn State’s third-leading rebounder.
Mike Rhoades’ next steps at Penn State
Rhoades will be taking over a Penn State program that will look dramatically different for the 2023-24 season. Penn State loses six players to graduation, including the team’s top five scorers last season. That also includes an All-American in Jalen Pickett. And it includes the first- and second-leading 3-point shooters in the Big Ten in Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk.
The Nittany Lions also had two players enter the transfer portal last Wednesday in Dallion Johnson and Caleb Dorsey. In the time since, Jameel Brown, Evan Mahaffey, and Njie have also entered the portal.
On top of those 10 exits, the three-man Class of 2023 of has also disintegrated. Carey Booth, Braeden Shrewsberry, and Logan Imes have all sought releases from their signed letters of intent. All players are still eligible to return to Penn State, should they choose.
