Penn State Basketball Big Man Stays in NBA Draft

Penn State Basketball center Yanic Konan Niederhauser announced he will remain in the 2025 NBA Draft, forgoing a senior year in Happy Valley under third-year coach Mike Rhoades.

Yanic Konan Niederhauser played just one year for Penn State, transferring after two years at Northern Illinois. He averaged 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds. He was not named to the first, second, or third team All-Big Ten Teams, and his inclusion in the draft process seemed like an opportunity to learn more about what scouts wanted him to improve on before returning to school.

However, Niederhauser impressed at the NBA G League Elite Camp, earning one of just a few invites to the NBA Draft Combine. After not appearing on any mock drafts just weeks ago, Niederhauser has been listed in numerous draft boards, some as high as #35, which is very high in the 2nd Round. Only first-round picks are guaranteed contracts in the NBA.

Penn State Basketball, Mike Rhoades — Penn State Head Coach Mike Rhoades questions a call during the Indiana versus Penn St. mens basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.

While exciting for Niederhauser (and potential PSU/76ers basketball fans…could he become Embiid insurance?!?), his departure leaves a large void in what was already a pretty barren 2025-2026 roster.

Penn State Basketball now returns just 12.2 points and 3.9 rebounds a game from a year ago (Freddie Dillione IV and Dominic Stewart) as Ace Baldwin, Zach Hicks, DeMarco Dunn, Puff Johnson and Nick Kern graduated and Miles Goodman, Jahvin Carter, Kachi Nzeh, Hudson Ward and Joe Sedora have transferred from the program. Eli Rice, who was injured all of last year, will be joined by Josh Reed (transfer from Cincinnati) and incoming freshmen Kayden Mingo, Mason Blackwood, Justin Houser, Reggie Grodin, and Ivan Juric.

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Evan Smith

Evan Smith is an alum of Penn State (Marketing, Economics, 2011) and a basketball season ticket holder since 2006.

NittanyCentral is his second reporting job following the Men's Basketball program. He co-founded and co-hosts the Shots Gotta Fall - The Penn State Basketball Podcast (the premiere, the best, the only) with Steve Travis.

Smith's most proud moment covering the team was seeing the national No. 9 ranking during Pat Chambers' last year. His most embarrassing moment was spending almost a thousand dollars to travel 2,000 miles in 46 hours to watch the Nittany Lions lose to Temple in the 2011 NCAA Tournament (screw you Juan Fernandez).