Tag: Dallion Johnson

Former Penn State basketball player Dallion Johnson announces transfer decision

Penn State officially loses its second player through the transfer portal as Dallion Johnson announces his decision.

For the second time this week, Penn State basketball has officially lost a player to another school by way of the transfer portal. [autotag]Dallion Johnson[/autotag] announced, via Twitter, he will be continuing his college basketball career with Florida Gulf Coast.

Johnson played three seasons for the Nittany Lions, mostly off the bench. In 2022-23, Johnson appeared in 23 games for Penn State with an average of 8.7 minutes per game. The guard will hope to find a more pivotal role with his new team moving forward.

Johnson entered the transfer portal in late March before Micah Shrewsberry officially left Penn State to be the head coach at Notre Dame. Johnson entered the transfer portal the same day as Caleb Dorsey, who also just made his transfer decision (Dorsey committed to William & Mary).

While there was hope new head coach Mike Rhoades would have been able to keep a couple of Penn State players from withdrawing from the transfer portal, this is two players in addition to graduating seniors and early NBA draft entrants that will now have to be replaced. Rhoades will likely be maximizing the use of the transfer portal to fill the roster, as he has already brought in one of his former players from VCU and could be adding more in due time.

Penn State still has three players in the transfer portal with Kebba Njie, Evan Mahaffey, and Jameel Brown.

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Penn State basketball transfer portal tracker

Keeping tabs on the transfer portal activity for Penn State this offseason.

Penn State’s basketball season capped one of the most successful runs by the program in years only to see its head coach leave to take another job. And with an offseason of changes in the air in Happy Valley, the management of the roster is a massive task to address moving forward.

In addition to graduating players and NBA draft entrants, Penn State is also seeing some potential changes in the transfer port. The transfer portal served Penn State quite well the past couple of seasons with the additions of players like Jalen Pickett, Camren Wynter, and Andrew Funk. Can they thrive with transfers once again?

Here is an updated look at who is coming and going by way of the transfer portal for Penn State this offseason.

Ace in the portal? Crystal ball picks favor Penn State for top VCU transfer

Penn State could get an Ace in the transfer portal for new head coach Mike Rhoades

After Penn State hired away [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] from VCU, the VCU program was hit hard by players entering the transfer portal. The likelihood that at least one VCU player makes his way to Penn State to continue playing for Rhoades seemed pretty obvious as Penn State’s roster was also decimated by departures and the transfer portal in the fallout of its own coaching search’s early stages. According to a handful of predictions from recruiting experts, Penn State is the early favorite to land not only VCU’s top player in the transfer portal, but the Atlantic-10 player of the year.

Adrian “Ace” Baldwin is the hot name in the transfer portal out of VCU at the moment. And while the A-10 player of the year figures to have plenty of worthwhile offers to consider, Penn State is the crystal ball prediction from three recruiting analysts on 247Sports. Tyler Calvaruso of Lions247, Colby Giacubeno of InsideMDSports and Justin Thind of SpartanTailgate all have cast a crystal ball prediction in favor of Penn State since [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] entered the transfer portal just two days ago when Rhoades was formally introduced as Penn State’s new head coach.

The Baltimore native point guard averaged 12.7 points per game and 5.8 assists last season for VCU. In addition to being named the A-10 player of the year, Baldwin was also praised for his defense as the conference’s defensive player of the year. As Penn State is in need of veterans on the roster with the roster turning over the way it is, Baldwin would be a tremendous asset to the team in 2023-24 if he decides to continue playing for Rhoades at Penn State.

Penn State experienced tremendous success with the transfer portal under Micah Shrewsberry. Penn State’s first NCAA tournament team since 2011 was fueled by transfers Jalen Pickett, Andrew Funk, and Camren Wynter. Baldwin could be the next in line to give Penn State hope through the transfer portal, although he would definitely be more known for his defense than his offensive skillset. And that could be the biggest difference between Shrewsberry’s teams and Rhoades’ as Shrewsberry was more about the offense and Rhoades specializes more with his defensive approach as a head coach.

But that doesn’t mean Penn State won’t have offense to worry about. The hiring of former Nittany Lion on Crispin figures to help design an offense that will keep the scoring output going after directing one of the better offenses in Division 3.

Penn State currently has four players in the transfer portal; [autotag]Jameel Brown[/autotag], [autotag]Evan Mahaffey[/autotag], [autotag]Dallion Johnson[/autotag], and [autotag]Caleb Dorsey[/autotag]. It would not be shocking to see any of these players decide to withdraw from the transfer portal as the decisions to enter the portal were largely made as Penn State searched for a replacement for Shrewsberry. But expect plenty of transfer portal activity for Penn State as Rhoades looks to fill his first roster in State College.

Baldwin would be a great addition to get the momentum going in the portal.

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Penn State sees another basketball player enter transfer portal

A third Penn State basketball player has entered the transfer portal.

With a search continuing to find a new head coach to take charge of the men’s basketball program, the transfer portal saw another Nittany Lion player enter his name into the database on Monday. Freshman [autotag]Evan Mahaffey[/autotag] is the latest Penn State player to enter the transfer portal since the end of the season and the departure of former head coach Micah Shrewsberry.

Mahaffey was a three-star recruit in Penn State’s Class of 2022 out of Ohio. He appeared in 34 games for the Nittany Lions off the bench. Mahaffey averaged just 2.8 points per game in his bench role but figured to be a player that could see a significantly increased role next season with the changes coming naturally to the roster.

Instead, it appears Mahaffey could very well be on the move to another school with plenty of eligibility at his disposal. While the majority of players who enter the transfer portal likely end up at a new school, Mahaffey is always free to withdraw his name from the portal if he decides to stay at Penn State. Such a sequence is not unprecedented.

A year ago saw Seth Lundy enter his name in the transfer portal, following Shrewsberry’s first season in State College. Lundy ultimately;y opted to stay at Penn State and was a key player in the first NCAA Tournament team for the program since 2011.

Mahaffey is the third player from Penn State to enter the transfer portal. He joins [autotag]Caleb Dorsey[/autotag] and [autotag]Dallion Johnson[/autotag] at the moment, with all three still undecided on their next school of choice, be it elsewhere or to stick with the Nittany Lions.

As a result of expected departures and current transfer activity, Penn State’s scholarship picture is nearly as shallow as it can get right now. Hiring a new head coach soon is a pressing need to allow whoever the next coach time to get building the roster as quickly as possible to salvage much hope for the first year on the job. As it stands at the moment, Penn State has six players currently on the scholarship chart, and that includes Shrewsberry’s son, Braeden Shrewsberry.

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Two Penn State basketball players enter transfer portal

A pair of Penn State basketball players have entered the transfer portal.

With the [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] decision about staying or going to Notre Dame still unknown, two Penn State players have decided to enter the transfer portal.

[autotag]Dallion Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Caleb Dorsey[/autotag] were members of the 2020 recruiting class. They’ve decided they would like to test the waters elsewhere after not seeing much playing time this past season.

Both players are former three-star recruits who were brough in by former coach [autotag]Pat Chambers[/autotag]. They had to play their freshman year under interim coach [autotag]Jim Ferry[/autotag] and then spent the next two seasons coached by Shrewsberry.

These decisions likely come on the heels of not seeing much playing time this past season. Johnson had seen a prominent role during his sophomore year, starting 14 games and averaging 14.6 minutes per game. That was reduced to 8.7 minutes this season with zero starts.

Dorsey saw more playing time this past season than he ever had before at Penn State. He started nine games and averaged 12.0 minutes of floor time. However, he didn’t see action during any of the Big Ten Tournament or NCAA Tournment.

It’s not surprising that these players would enter the transfer portal. If Shrewsberry stays, neither were recruited by him and fits what he’s looking to build. Both have two years of eligibility remaining stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic that has granted players an extra year.

The transfer portal is still in the early stages for this offseason. Programs need to see how many available scholarships they’ll have and which players are departing.

By all measures, this shouldn’t be something alarming that signals Shrewsberry is definitely leaving Penn State. We’ll know that decision soon, but right now there are no indicators one way or another.

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Big Ten Tournament: Penn State basketball goes down swinging against Purdue

Penn State won two games and put up a solid fight against Purdue, but the season has come to a close after the Big Ten tournament loss Friday night.

There was no second-half magic for Penn State in their third game in three nights in the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, but the Nittany Lions showed plenty of fight against one of the best teams in the Big Ten as they were eliminated from the conference tournament. Penn State came up short against No. 9 Purdue on Friday night, with the Boilermakers advancing to Saturday’s semi-final round. Penn State’s season, in all likelihood, has officially come to an end.

Penn State trailed Purdue 35-31 at halftime and did everything it could to keep pace with Purdue in the second half, but the Boilermakers slightly out-paced Penn State after halftime to build on to its lead. But Penn State did push Purdue in a competitive effort, creating a one-game possession late in the game before Purdue held off the upset bid.

John Harrar recorded another double-double in his final game in a Penn State uniform. Harrar provided Penn State with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a tough matchup. And Jalen Pickett and Sam Sessoms each provided the scoring spark for the Nittnay Lions to keep things within reach.

But the player of the game was in a Purdue uniform, that being Jaden Ivey. Ivey led all players with 17 points scored in the Purdue win.

Penn State’s season ends with an overall record of 14-17 and 7-13 in Big Ten play. Despite the losing record in the first season under Micah Shrewsberry, the future outlook of the program is already looking to be trending upward. Penn State got a glimpse of the future with a late second-half run ignited by Dallion Johnson and Jaheam Cornwall, and Shrewsberry has already started to get to work on one of the better recruiting classes Penn State has built for the program in a long time.

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Penn State Nittany Lions 2021-22 Men’s Basketball Roster

Full rundown of the Penn State men’s basketball roster for the 2021-22 season

Penn State’s men’s basketball team offers a blend of veteran Nittany Lions who have gone through three different head coaches in the past two years and a blend of incoming transfer players to help fill the roster after an eventful offseason in Happy Valley. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry wasted little time forming his first coaching staff and roster for his debut season as a head coach, and his Nittany Lions face a challenging big Ten slate and some interesting non-conference matchups.

Below is the full roster and some quick info about each player appearing on it for the Nittany Lions for the 2021-22 season. This roster page will be updated moving forward through the season with links to highlights, features, photo galleries, and more.

For Penn State’s men’s basketball schedule for the 2021-22 season, click HERE.