Kachi Nzeh to Transfer After One Season With Penn State Basketball
The 6-8 forward, who transferred from Xavier to Penn State, played in 29 games for the Nittany Lions last season.
Penn State’s basketball roster continues to undergo an offseason overhaul, as sophomore forward Kachi Nzeh has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after one season. Nzeh, a 6-8 forward, will play for his third program next season. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Jamie Shaw of On3 first reported the news.
Nzeh played in 29 games, starting two, for the Nittany Lions last season. He averaged 2.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 11.3 minutes per game. Nzeh scored season-highs of eight points twice against Virginia Tech and Iowa.
Nzeh played a season-high 26 minutes against Virginia Tech early in the season but did not top nine minutes in any of the Nittany Lions’ last six games. Nzeh began his college career at Xavier, where he played in 19 games as a true freshman during the 2023-24 season.
The Upper Darby (Pa.) native was Pennsylvania’s second-rated player of the 2023 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. He averaged 17.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game as a senior at the George School.
With Nzeh’s departure, Penn State has lost nine players from its 2024-25 roster. Five exhausted their eligibility, including Big Ten defensive player of the year Ace Baldwin Jr., and three freshmen entered the transfer portal after one season. That includes Miles Goodman, who was the highest-ranked recruit in the Nittany Lions’ 2024 class.
Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Penn State’s 7-foot forward, has declared for the 2025 NBA Draft but is retaining his eligibility. Niederhauser also announced that he will return to Penn State for his senior season if he goes undrafted.
Penn State has added one player through the transfer portal. Josh Reed, a 6-7 guard who played three seasons at Cincinnati, has announced his decision to play for the Nittany Lions next season.
In coach Mike Rhoades’ second season, Penn State went 16-15 last season, 6-14 in the Big Ten, and did not play in a postseason tournament. Rhoades said he made that decision to begin restructuring the team’s roster for 2025-26.
“I felt it was most important for us to start moving and building for the future and developing our program the way I see fit,” Rhoades said. “We wanted to move full-speed ahead of offseason plans and building our program and our roster and going from there.”
