Temple transfer Zach Hicks has committed to Penn State.
College basketball insider Jon Rothstein was the first to report the news Thursday afternoon.
NEWS: Temple transfer Zach Hicks tells me that he has committed to Penn State.https://t.co/2q9yXsqjVv
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 20, 2023
Hicks is the third player new coach Mike Rhoades and co. have added from the transfer portal, and the first one who didn’t play for Rhoades at VCU.
Penn State now has six scholarship players expected to be on new season’s roster. Of those six, three are returning from last season and three are transfers. The first two transfers Rhoades landed— Ace Baldwin and Nick Kern— played at VCU. Both committed earlier this month and signed with Penn State earlier this week.
Hicks chose Penn State over Georgetown, Temple and UTEP, among others. Had Hicks stayed at Temple, he would have played for new head coach Adam Fisher, who was Micah Shrewsberry’s associate head coach in Shrewsberry’s two-year tenure in Happy Valley, which ended last month when he became Notre Dame’s new boss. Instead, Hicks will be playing for Fisher’s alma mater.
Hicks is a pure three-point shooter, which is an ideal fit in assistant to the head coach Joe Crispin’s new offensive system, which involves fast-paced play. Hicks was a three-star recruit out of Camden Catholic in Camden, New Jersey, where he was the number nine prospect in New Jersey, the No. 62 power forward, and the No. 295 player nationally in the Class of 2021, according to 24Sports composite rankings.
At Temple, Hicks averaged 9.6 points and 5.1 rebounds, shooting 35.6% from 3-point land, respectable for a guy that’s 6-foot-7. He started all 32 games for Temple and averaged more than 32 minutes, which speaks well for his durability. Hicks will have two years of eligibility left.
