Penn State is heading into the season with a different kind of roster, and Mike Rhoades made it clear Thursday that was the point.
At Big Ten Media Day in Chicago, the Nittany Lions’ coach sat alongside transfer guard Brant Byers and returning 7-footer Ivan Jurić and spent much of the session talking about the same themes that have defined Penn State’s offseason: toughness, physicality and players who know how to win. With the season less than two weeks away, that message came through loud and clear.
Rhoades did not dance around what went wrong last year.
“We just didn't have enough toughness, enough grit, couldn't draw the line in the sand at times in Big Ten play,” Rhoades said. “We hung in there with people, but there was just not enough and we went out there and found it. We got some older guys, we got some bigger, tougher guys - that's important.”
That overhaul has been a constant talking point for Rhoades, and he said the current group is built differently. He acknowledged Penn State may not have the league’s deepest roster, but he likes the makeup of the team and the competitive edge it brings.
“Maybe not as deep as the rest of the league, but I like our group, and we had to address that,” Rhoades said. “The character of competition and the character of toughness. We needed that for sure.”
Jurić echoed that sentiment from the player side. After a full year in the Big Ten, he said he better understands the pace, athleticism and physical demands of the league, and he pointed to his work in the weight room and his push for consistency as part of that growth.
Rhoades framed the shift as a daily standard, not just a talking point.
“Build the habits of being tough, and then make it a behavior, and get to a point where that's just what we do,” Rhoades said. “We have to overachieve at Penn State.
It is what it is in the Big Ten for us - I'm cool with that, I'm excited about that. But we have to have a level of toughness and grit and fight to find a way to overachieve on a Saturday night on the road in the Big Ten.”
Byers arrived in Happy Valley carrying plenty of momentum from Miami (OH), where he averaged 14.2 points per game, shot it well from deep and helped the RedHawks finish unbeaten in the regular season before their run ended in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. Miami (OH) still reached the NCAA Tournament, and Rhoades said that kind of background mattered when evaluating portal additions.
“If we were going to bring anybody in, they had to fit me, and they had to hit that toughness barometer, as we called it. But also from winning programs, culture programs that know what it looks like and what it feels like,” Rhoades said. “Brant went through that last year at a high level, and he's a big part of it.”
For Byers, the move was about more than basketball. The Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, native said putting on the Penn State jersey carried real meaning.
“I mean it's pretty special, it's kind of a dream come true in a way,” Byers said. “Just thinking back to the players growing up that I would watch playing at Penn State, I think it's pretty crazy that I now have that Penn State logo on myself.
Get to wear that jersey as well. It's pretty special - I'm pretty lucky.”
He also singled out Dasonte Bowen as a vocal veteran presence, while Rhoades praised Bowen’s approach and early impact.
“He's happy he's with us, and it makes me happy when he hits those long threes, that's for sure,” Rhoades said. “But really appreciate his approach and the type of teammate he is, and he's gone off to a great start.”
A major part of Penn State’s offseason has also come from overseas. Rhoades said the program “opened the door” to international recruiting and leaned on staff members with European experience to help make it happen.
“Brent Scott, my associate coach, played 15 years in Europe; Taylor Battle, maybe one of the best players we ever had, He played 10 years in Europe - They know people, they know agents,” Rhoades said. “Those doors we're keeping them wide open, and we're finding we're building some great relationships … there's basketball players all over the world. You just got to go find them and then get them excited about your place.”
Penn State brought in six newcomers from overseas, five of them European-born, including Tim Oboh from England, François Wibaut from France, Roberts Blums from Latvia and Balkan forwards Aleksandar Zečević and Roko Prkačin.
Rhoades sounded especially eager about the fit of that group.
“I'm really excited about Roko Prkačin; Roko is a very versatile player… Francois is like a Big Ten wing, big, physical, strong guy, can guard multiple positions and Robert Blums, who transferred from Davidson, a winning culture program, is going to give us a lot,” Rhoades said. “We went out and got different guys from all over the world, but guys that love to play basketball and love to compete, and it's really helped us. It's been fun coaching these guys - I can't wait to get started.”
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