Penn State guard Kanye Clary is no longer with the team, coach Mike Rhoades announces

Penn State guard Kanye Clary is no longer with the team, head coach Mike Rhoades announced Monday afternoon. Clary did not play Saturday in the team’s road game against Nebraska.

“Kanye is no longer with the team — coach’s decision,” Rhoades said. “We’re going to keep moving forward on the guys we got, the task at hand. It came to a point where we’re at that I made the decision as the head coach to move on. I’ll leave it at that.”

Clary was the team’s leading scorer with 16.7 points per game and shot 37.7% from beyond the arc this season. He was one of three holdovers from the previous coaching staff, along with guard Jameel Brown and center Demetrius Lilley.

Rhoades declined to expand on the reason for Clary’s departure.

“It just came to a point where we’re at where, as the head coach, I made a decision to move on,” he said. “That’s where I’ll leave it.”

Clary’s absence means the Nittany Lions will have to look down the bench for more production to replace his scoring output. The team has already played without him — with two road wins over Indiana and Rutgers coming without Clary — but will have to rely on other players to handle the ball more frequently.

“Some guys are gonna have to step up,” Rhoades said. “Other guys are gonna move around at some positions and all that stuff. You want to get to a place where you have a system where guys feel comfortable no matter what position they’re in or how we go about it. It will definitely change some things moving forward, but just like injuries you’ve got to be ready to adapt and change and move.”

Penn State forward Puff Johnson — a captain — said the team is focused on its improvement.

“Everyone in the locker room has faith in this program, faith in Coach Rhoades and it’s a team thing,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to keep on working as a team and keep on building every day to become the best team possible.”