Purdue Basketball: Welcome Back, Freshman Center Daniel Jacobsen

Throughout the offseason, Purdue Boilermakers on SI will highlight members of the 2025-26 Purdue men's basketball roster as part of a "Welcome Back/Welcome Aboard" series. This series will focus on recaps from the 2024-25 campaign and look ahead to the upcoming season.

Next on the list is 7-foot-4 center Daniel Jacobsen, who played in just two games for the Boilermakers during his first season in West Lafayette.

Daniel Jacobsen's 2024-25 season

Zach Edey may have left after the 2023-24 season, but Purdue had another 7-foot-4 center ready to cause problems in the post when last season tipped off. As a true freshman, Jacobsen earned the starting job at center and made some big plays in the Boilers' season-opening win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

In his first game as a Boilermaker, Jacobsen scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and blocked three shots. He made a few pivotal plays down the stretch that helped Purdue secure a victory. Unfortunately, that was about all we saw of the Chicago native.

Just one minute into Purdue's second game of the season, Jacobsen sustained a leg injury that kept him sidelined for the remainder of the year. The team's only rim protector and greatest lob threat had to sit and watch the final 34 games from the bench.

Jacobsen didn't just sit around waiting to heal, though. The freshman used that time to bulk up, adding 40 pounds to his frame. By the end of February, he went through the full pregame warmup routine with the team.

We only witnessed a fraction of what Jacobsen is capable of accomplishing last season, which has created a lot of anticipation for the upcoming year.

The shot blocker Purdue needs

When Jacobsen was sidelined with the injury last season, so too was Purdue's rim protection and shot-blocking ability. It was a glaring issue for the Boilermakers throughout the 2024-25 campaign, one that could have been aided by the 7-foot-4 center's presence on the court.

There is no guarantee that Jacobsen would have sustained his high shot-blocking ability throughout the year. Over the course of a 32-game season — and playing in the Big Ten — he almost certainly would have endured some growing pains. Without him, Purdue struggled to keep opponents out of the paint.

Jacobsen can also help Purdue on the glass, using his length on the offensive glass for second-chance opportunities.

"We think Daniel can help us in there," Matt Painter told Andy Katz on The Sideline. "Daniel is more polished in terms of rim protection and getting flip-up lobs and using his length. So, we feel really good about that."

Jacobsen getting tryout with USA Basketball

Six months after suffering a broken tibia, Jacobsen is back to full strength and will have the opportunity to play overseas with USA Basketball this summer. The redshirt freshman was one of 33 players to receive an invitation for a tryout with USA Basketball for the U19 Men's National Team for the 2025 FIBA World Cup in Switzerland.

If Jacobsen is one of the 12 players selected for the roster, he'll have the chance to play in live competition before the 2025-26 season. For a player who missed nearly his entire freshman campaign, that experience would be incredibly valuable.

Last summer, Jacobsen played on the U18 Men's National Team, helping lead Team USA to a gold medal in Argentina. He averaged 9.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game while logging 16 minutes per game.

"We're excited about that, hopefully he makes that team and gets that experience again after starting for the U18 team (last year)," Painter said.

The tryouts begin June 14, and Jacobsen will know whether or not he made the squad before the team's departure in late June.

Looking ahead to 2025-26

This coming season will essentially serve as Jacobsen's freshman year at Purdue. While sitting on the bench was probably disappointing last year, he enters the 2025-26 campaign with a more sturdy frame to handle the physicality of a brutal nonconference schedule and Big Ten play.

If there's a silver lining to missing an entire season, that's it for Jacobsen.

Where Jacobsen fits in on Purdue's roster will be a little bit of a mystery, at least for right now. Will he be the starting center with Oscar Cluff coming in off the bench? Will Jacobsen come in as a sixth man? Is the starting lineup going to be more situational based on the opponent?

Jacobsen is going to play a significant number of minutes next season, it's just a matter of whether he's in the starting rotation are comes in off the bench. But he offers the shot-blocking ability and provides Purdue a lob threat it didn't have a season ago.

After his impressive performance against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Painter compared Jacobsen to another former Purdue great.

"He reminds me a lot, even though he's taller, of JaJuan Johnson at that age," Painter said in November. "A lot of people just think that you just show up and you're great. It takes time. He had some tough moments as a freshman, and as a sophomore, he was first-team All-Big Ten."

I don't know if Jacobsen will be an All-Big Ten caliber player this coming season, but he certainly has that potential. More than anything, though, his presence will help the Boilermakers in their biggest areas of concern from the 2024-25 season.

That, alone, is reason to be excited about Jacobsen's return.

Daniel Jacobsen 2024-25 stats & highlights

Stats (2 games)

• 6.5 points per game
• 3.5 rebounds per game
• 1.5 blocks per game
• 66.7% FG
• 71.4% FT

Highlights