Penn State Men’s Basketball: Nittany Lions Add Another VCU Transfer to Roster

Penn State men’s basketball added another now former VCU guard/forward to its 2023-24 roster as sophomore guard Nick Kern committed to the Nittany Lions and Mike Rhoades out of the transfer portal late on Wednesday night. Kern, a rising junior, played with Rhoades at VCU for the last two seasons.

Kern now joins fellow former Ram guard Ace Baldwin Jr. in State College. Baldwin, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and one of the top transfer portal prospects this cycle, also recently committed to Rhoades and Penn State.

While at VCU, the 6-foot-6 prospect played in 66 games, averaging 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. Kern started 19 contests last season, averaging 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.

Officially, the duo joins the freshman tandem of Nittany Lion guard Kanye Clary and big man Demetrius Lilley as the only players on Penn State’s roster not in the transfer portal. Freshmen Kebba Njie, Jameel Brown and Evan Mahaffey are all currently in the transfer portal but are eligible to return to Penn State and have yet to indicate that they have found a transfer destination and will in fact be leaving the program. Junior forward Caleb Dorsey entered the transfer portal recently as well and announced his transfer to William and Mary earlier in the week.

Penn State and new head coach Rhoades will continue to work the transfer portal and the recruiting trail in the coming weeks and months to fill out the Nittany Lions 2023-24 roster and beyond.