Advertisement
basketball Edit

Hoops: Assistant Kevin Freeman heading back to UConn

Penn State men's basketball has an assistant coaching vacancy heading into the 2020-21 season, according to a Tuesday morning report from Rivals' Corey Evans.

Blue White Illustrated has since confirmed the news with a source close to the program.

Citing a source, assistant coach Kevin Freeman has taken a job on Dan Hurley's staff at UConn following a two-season stint with Patrick Chambers and the Nittany Lions.

Advertisement

Freeman was an accomplished four-year starter at power forward for Jim Calhoun from 1995-2000, winning a national championship with the Huskies in 1999 as well as the Big East Tournament that year, for which he was named its MVP. Following a 10-year professional stint that saw stops in the NBA and overseas, Freeman returned to work for Calhoun's staff in an administrative role, eventually leaving as its director as basketball operations to come work for Chambers leading into the 2018-19 season.

In his role as Penn State's third assistant, Freeman was credited by Chambers with having helped to develop the Nittany Lions' bigs, particularly fifth-year senior forward Mike Watkins.

" Give Kevin Freeman a lot of credit for that," Chambers said after a winning effort at Purdue's Mackey Arena in February. "Low post defense was good, he was rolling hard, he was catching things. He was finishing. He made his free throw. I couldn't be more happier for someone than Mike Watkins."

Freeman's departure extends a budding coaching tree under Chambers, who is set to embark on his 10th season with the Nittany Lions. In addition to Freeman's move to UConn as its third assistant, Chambers' staff has also produced assistant coach Adam Fisher on Jim Larrañaga's staff at Miami, and a director of operations at Villanova in Dwayne Anderson.

*******

- To order your copy of Blue White Illustrated's magazine, CLICK HERE.

• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated

• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98

• Like us on Facebook

Advertisement