Mike Rhoades calls Puff Johnson day-to-day

Puff Johnson, a player who has dealt with some injuries on and off over his career, missed the latest game for Penn State on Thursday. It won’t be too long before he returns to the lineup, though, according to Mike Rhoades.

Rhoades shared the latest on Johnson’s status following an 89-79 victory for the Nittany Lions over Iowa last night. He described Johnson as ‘day-to-day’ at this point with this specific matter.

“Yeah. He’s day-to-day,” said Rhoades.

Johnson, a senior forward in his first season in University Park, is averaging career-highs with 6.3 points and 3.1 rebounds but is shooting just 38% from the field and 26.4% from three. After three seasons at North Carolina with only two starts, he has appeared in 20 games for Penn State this year with 10 starts to his name.

Johnson missed the first two games of the campaign against Delaware State and Lehigh back in November. He had since been back in the lineup for every game before his absence against the Hawkeyes yesterday.

Still, according to Rhoades, this doesn’t seem to be a long-term matter for Johnson. That’s further evidenced by the fact that was confident enough to say that Johnson may very well be ready to go this weekend at Northwestern.

“He’s day-to-day so, hopefully, we can have him for Sunday,” said Rhoades. “Just day-to-day.”

Big Ten announces changes to future basketball scheduling format

The Big Ten has announced changes for the future scheduling format for both men’s and women’s basketball.

Ahead of the addition of four new programs in ’24-’25, the conference is making preparations to have their schedule prepared for basketball season. In a press release last week, the Big Ten revealed the way that it’ll shape up and the differences which we’ll see moving forward

“As part of ongoing preparations for the addition of four new member institutions during the 2024-25 academic year, the Big Ten Conference on Tuesday announced details regarding future regular- and postseason competition structures for men’s and women’s basketball,” the press release read. “Beginning next season, both the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament fields will expand to 15 teams (from 14), a format that maintains the five-day schedule of the event, provides access to all teams in contention for postseason invitations, and will maintain a double bye for each of the top four seeds while seeds 5-9 will receive a single bye.

“Both the men’s and women’s conference schedules will remain at 20 and 18 contests, respectively, for each school. This allows for non-conference scheduling flexibility, is consistent with peer schedule formats and maximizes opportunities for NCAA postseason berths. Single-play home/away locations will rotate annually, and two-play opponents will be determined with consideration for competitive balance, geography and rivalries.”