6/18/2024 basketball Edit

What will Penn State's starting five look like ahead of the 2024-25 season?

Austin Mitchell • Happy Valley Insider

Staff Writer

Penn State’s lineup underwent major changes towards the end of last year’s season when starting guard and leading scorer Kanye Clary was released from the team due to off-the-court conduct. However, this likely ended up working out well for both parties, as Clary was able to find a new home with a strong Mississippi State team while the Nittany Lions found a starting five combo that performed extremely well down the final stretch.

Barring anything out of the ordinary, four of those five starters will be returning for the 2024-25 season: Ace Baldwin Jr, D’Marco Dunn, Nick Kern Jr, and Zach Hicks. Qudus Wahab is out of eligibility and will be the lone former starter not suiting up this season.

Head Coach Mike Rhoades will likely have Baldwin, Dunn, Kern, and Hicks in starting roles again, however, the last spot remains up in the air. With that being said, let's look at three options to fill that final spot.

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One option is to go with experience in fifth-year senior Puff Johnson. Johnson joined the Nittany Lions before the 2023-24 season as a transfer from UNC-Chapel Hill, where he played a key role in the Tar Heels run to the National Championship game.

With the Nittany Lions missing the Center position in their starting lineup, the 6’8” Forward would not be considered a traditional choice, but this doesn’t necessarily mean it’d be a bad one. While inserting Johnson into the starting lineup would likely cause difficulty rebounding and defending the paint, it could also result in plenty of mismatches in their favor as well.

Since most opponents play man-to-man defense, teams will be forced to match up slower, big guys on Penn State’s more athletic and explosive forwards. When combining this with their tall backcourt, the Nittany Lions could have an offense that’s difficult to keep in check.

On the defensive side of the ball, Johnson’s athleticism and experience could be advantageous for running a variety of traps and other high-pressure defenses. Having five guys who know how to rotate and can do so quickly is a daunting thought for any opposing guard.

While Puff Johnson seems to be the most likely option to get the start, Kachi Nzeh or Yanic Konan Niederhauser may get the nod as well if a more traditional center is desired. Nzeh, a sophomore transfer from Xavier, possesses strong interior skills on both sides of the ball and is a high-level rebounder. While Nzeh is also undersized for the center role at 6’8”, weighing in at 230 lbs compared to Johnson’s 205 lbs allows him to compete with bigger guys inside.

However, Nzeh’s lack of experience and lesser floor spacing ability likely limits the Nittany Lions’ potential to attack mismatches on the offensive end and throw a variety of pressure defenses at opponents.

While Johnson’s versatility likely raises the ceiling out of the Nittany Lions’ starting lineup, Nzeh’s inside game could be a safer option for Coach Rhoades to go to.

Perhaps the most intriguing option for the final starting spot is Yanic Konan Niderhauser, a junior transfer from Northern Illinois. Standing 7’0” 255 lbs, Niederhauser has the ideal build for a center. While he’s not as polished as Johnson, his raw athleticism and flashes of being a high-level scorer are part of why he has so much potential for the Nittany Lions. Niederhauser took a sizeable leap from his freshman to sophomore seasons at NIU, and with another one, he could very well be the missing piece in the starting lineup.

It’ll be interesting to see how Coach Rhoades utilizes the fifth starting role. With multiple players so different from one another being talented enough to fill the spot, the option to start a different guy dependent on the matchup at hand may be on the table. Building a consistent group with a veteran such as Puff Johnson is advantageous in its own right. Ultimately there’s a long way to go until the start of the season in November, and a lot will change between now and then, but for now, having more talent than you need is a good problem for the Nittany Lions to have.