City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MPaul22)
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Pat Chambers bolstered a thin Nittany Lions front court on Friday after Satchel Pierce announced on Twitter he will continue his collegiate career at Penn State, on the tail end of a two-day visit to campus.

Pierce, a former three-star prospect, played two seasons at Virginia Tech, but announced last month his intentions to transfer after seeing a diminished role with the Hokies.

An Ohio native, Pierce played high school basketball at Kiski School, just outside Pittsburgh, and held offers from Seton Hall, Miami, Pitt, among others, before committing to Virginia Tech.

It helped that Penn State was involved the first time around as well.

"Coach Chambers and I have a very good relationship because we were able to build one when he (was) recruiting me out of high school,” Pierce told CoBL on Friday, "and then now it's even better that I'm transferring to Penn State.”

He is listed at 7-foot, 255 pounds on the Virginia Tech website.

Pierce appeared in 31 games as freshman (seven starts) and shot 48 percent on the season while tallying 23 blocks. Against Miami on March 7 he played one of his best games, totaling 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes of play. In his sophomore season minutes became more scarce as he appeared in just 20 contests and saw his minutes decrease 6.2 per game, a steep decline from the 13.8 minutes per game he saw in 2014-15.

He is expected to sit out the 2016-17 season, according to NCAA transfer rules, and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining, joining a young nucleus of big men, which include current redshirt sophomore and Germantown alumnus Julian Moore, redshirt freshman Mike Watkins, who was ineligible last season after finishing his high school career at Phelps School, and incoming freshman Joe Hampton.

"I can't say there was any particular part of our relationship that made me feel comfortable with the decision it just felt right and I knew that I didn't want to play for anyone other than coach Chambers," Pierce said.

Penn State, as presently constructed, has the allotted 13 scholarships occupied for the next two seasons. The Nittany Lions signed their two best rated recruiting classes over the past two National Signing Days with back-to-back top 40 ranked hauls, including the 2016 Roman Catholic trio of Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Nazeer Bostick.

The arrival of Pierce marks the third consecutive offseason of Penn State successfully adding a transfer: Jordan Dickerson from SMU in 2013, Devin Foster in 2014 from Vincennes University, and Connecticut transfer Terrence Samuel last summer.

"My expectations for the next two seasons here is competing for a Big Ten championship and making a good run in the tournament," Pierce said.