At the helm of Penn State men’s basketball is Mike Rhoades.
After a 16-15 overall record in the 2024-2025 season, Rhoades said the program was going to be creative in finding players.
“We’re recruiting all over the world,” he said in March. “I think in the landscape of college athletics and college athletic recruiting, you have to be open to everything: high school kids, the portal and, of course, international. We’ve recruited international before. I have guys on our staff that have done it and have made those many trips all over the world to do that. That’s very important to us.”
WHY RECRUIT IN EUROPE?
European basketball has been, traditionally, known to have athletes that are more trained, coached and disciplined in the fundamentals of the game. Not that American players aren’t taught the fundamentals but it has been proven and it shows in today’s collegiate and professional basketball that a lot of players from Europe are more fundamentally-sound in basketball. They are overall better passers, dribblers and shooters, no matter how big and tall they are. European teams also emphasize teamwork and strategic play while American basketball, particularly in the NBA, tends to prioritize athleticism, one-on-one play, with a faster-paced game. International basketball stresses the importance of having disciplined defenses, structured offenses with ball movement and are less worried about highlight-reel plays.
Rhoades and his staff already have three committed international, incoming freshmen. They are 6′-8″ forward Tibor Mirtic (pictured above) from Slovenia, Ivan Juric, a 7′-0″ forward from Croatia and Melih Tunca, a 6′-5″ sharp-shooter from Turkey.
Just today it was announced that 6′-9″ Slovenian forward Sasa Ciani, a junior transfer from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) has transferred to play for Penn State. Rhoades on Ciani: “We’re excited to get Sasa on campus and welcome him to our Penn State basketball family. He is a veteran that will give us front court experience, size and versatility. We’re looking forward to the leadership, intense play and toughness that he will bring to our program.”
All four of the international, incoming Nittany Lions have represented their country in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Eurobasket Tournament.
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Ivan Juric (pictured above)
Melih Tunca (pictured above)
