The hits just keep coming for Mike Rhoades and his coaching staff.
After taking over a situation that was dire with the lack of scholarship players on the roster, Rhoades has completely rebuilt the team in less than a two month window. Not only was he and his staff able to rebuild mainly through the transfer portal, they were able to land high quality players that can impact the program immediately.
The most recent addition is not exception. Penn State landed former Miami center Favour Aire out of the transfer portal on Monday.
Aire played his true freshman season for the Hurricanes last year but decided to look at other programs after seeing the floor in 14 games. Aire was a four-star prospect in the class of 2022 after leaving his country of Nigeria to play basketball at Bishop McNamara in Maryland.
Aire announced his commitment to Penn State on his Instagram account with a post saying “New beginnings.”
BREAKING: Penn State basketball has landed Miami center Favour Aire out of the NCAA Transfer Portal.https://t.co/m0mFUilLGj pic.twitter.com/qi2e0WkAzq
— Tyler Calvaruso (@tyler_calvaruso) May 22, 2023
The four-star high school prospect is a 6’11” 215-pound center who uses his physicality to get position down low for rebounds. Aire is considered a raw prospect but possesses great athleticism for someone his size. He runs the floor at a high level and can defend on the perimeter while also being able to block shots.
In the 14 games he played last year, Aire saw the court for 2.7 minutes per appearance, recording averages of 0.6 points and 0.6 rebounds.
Those certainly aren’t eye-popping numbers, but his ceiling is extremely high and could provide Penn State with interior defense and rebounding which they haven’t had in recent years.
With the addition of Aire, the roster is almost filled out for the 2023-24 season. There is now one open scholarship spot remaining which can still be filled through the transfer portal.
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