Head coach Mike Rhoades addressed the media after Penn State basketball beat Fairfield Monday night.
The Stags came into State College not intimidated by the aura of the Bryce Jordan Center, but Penn State basketball was able to pull out a 76-68 win in the 2025-26 regular season opener.
Rhoades started off the presser appreciating the fans and students coming out and was very proud of his young squad not panicking in crunch time.
โEven with these new, inexperienced guys, nobody was panicking,โ Rhoades said. โThere were no frowns in the huddle, no blaming and complaining, excuse-making.”
“The last 3:28 we went on a 16-2 run…I think we’ll score points, but we just have to learn to keep playing defense. It wasn’t great today, not up to our standards, but the last 3:28 was to our standards.”
The head coach went on to compliment freshmen standouts, Melih Tunca and Kayden Mingo.
โThey’re two pretty good players, right?โ Rhoades said. โThey can handle the ball, they can shoot it, they can get to the rim and finish, they get their teammates shots, they’re talkative, they have moxy, they’re both high-character young men on and off the court, and they’re only going to get better…they’re very coachable.”
Rhoades continued the presser complimenting his 7′-0,” 19-year-old, freshman center, Ivan Juric.
He also explained why he knew tonight was going to be a hard game and succinctly explained how his players have to compete for their minutes every day, because they have 6-10 guys that can play, and they don’t win the game tonight without their army.
Watch Rhoades’ full post-game press conference below.
