The only senior on the Penn State men’s basketball team last season was Josh Reed.
The 6′-8″ forward was a do-it-all, Swiss Army knife for Penn State.
Being a staple in the starting lineup, Reed ended the season averaging 11.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting 48.8% from the field.
In an exclusive interview with Nittany Sports Now, the Atlanta native talked about his journey and his plans now since he just finished earning a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Penn State in just one year.
Reed transferred to State College after playing three seasons at Cincinnati and was thrusted into a leadership role at Penn State. He immediately accepted the role as a leader and mentor for the young Nittany Lions.
Was this intimidating for Reed?
“I wouldn’t say there was any added pressure,” he said. “I kind of knew what I was getting myself into. And, obviously, that was a new thing for me because every team I’ve been on there’s always been other seniors, older guys and we were really young this year, so I kind of knew right away having conversations with the coaches that I’d have to be in that leadership type of role and be there for those younger guys who are just finding their way in college.”
Penn State will be a different team this season, having lost nine of Reed’s former teammates to the transfer portal.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“It’s definitely hard especially in today’s world where NIL is such a big thing,” Reed said. “It’s also a hard thing to deal with agents as well…I know they (the players) have a ton of people in their ear for sure whether it’s agents or family members telling them this and telling them that, but the NIL and the whole portal thing is definitely a hard thing to navigate.”
“Everyone on the team had a great relationship with coach (Mike) Rhoades and all the other coaches and vice versa and we all had great relationships with each other…we were all really close off the court so none of that was ever a problem or anything. I know that wasn’t the reason the guys left.”
Reed said his playing days are now over and it was time to move on despite having interest from some overseas professional teams.
He is now a full-time employee with the Philadelphia 76ers working in the business side of the industry.
You can watch NSN’s interview with Reed in its entirety down below.
