It’s easy to look at Daniel Jacobsen as the next in Purdue’s lineage of great big men because he is, at 7-foot-4, a great big man.
Measured against his predecessors by height alone, he’s very much next in line behind Oscar Cluff (6-foot-11), Zach Edey (7-foot-4), Matt Haarms (7-foot-3), Isaac Haas (7-foot-2), A.J. Hammons (7-foot-0) and so on. Matt Painter has a type, and Jacobsen is very much of it.
“His best attribute is he finds 7-4 guys bigger than God and he makes them good,” Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said of Painter.
Pose that question to Painter, however, and his head starts shaking. Jacobsen may be tall, and Purdue is counting on him to be the rim protector his length would suggest, but at this point in his career he’s probably more comfortable facing the basket with the ball than he is with his back to it. In 2026, even Purdue’s big men want to shoot jump shots, and Jacobsen was a credible 3-for-8 from three-point range as a sophomore last season, as well as a competent 48.6-percent shooter in the midrange.
Unlike some of Purdue’s irresistible forces in the post in the past, the lanky, long-limbed Jacobsen is very much a movable object at 250 pounds, something he uses to his advantage.
“With his movement, for a guy that’s 7-4, he can make an open three and you can throw flip-up lobs up to him,” Painter said. “He’s really worked at being a better post player. He’s never going to be a quintessential post-up guy, but when you’re diving to the rim and you don’t get it, you got to be able to duck in and if you can play at 5 feet when you’re 7-4 and you have a jump hook, you’re going to be OK. He has all those things.
“So you have to be able to find your way in a game and not just be a one-trick pony, not just be a three-point shooter, a lob guy, you’ve got to get some run-outs and get a layup. You’ve got to get some putbacks. You’ve got to be able to do all those things. But you’ve also got to have opportunity, and he has a much better opportunity now than he did last year.”
That opportunity has arrived on a team that lost almost 70 percent of its scoring from a year ago, including both of its starting post players.
Still, when you’re more than 84 inches tall and you choose to play for Purdue, you’re embracing that lineage. Jacobsen knew what he was getting into. He’s not even the only 7-plus-footer on this roster, as is often the case at Purdue.
“It’s a big deal, the legacy the players before me have left and I’m looking forward to the opportunity of stepping into that,” Jacobsen said. “At the same time, I have to balance being my own player. I just trust my coaches and trust my game and I know that it’s naturally going to work out.”
While a broken leg cut short his freshman year and he saw limited action in the postseason during Purdue’s run to the Big Ten Tournament championship and the Elite Eight — he played 10 or more minutes in only three of eight games — the opportunity is there now on a team that returns only 33 percent of its minutes from last season.
After averaging 5.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 12.9 minutes per game last year, scoring a season-high 24 points against Eastern Illinois last November but in double digits only six times and not after Jan. 7, expectations are stratospherically higher for Jacobsen this year.
He struggled in Purdue’s exhibition against UConn, with 7 points and 3 rebounds to go with 4 blocks, before looking more comfortable against Purdue Fort Wayne and Ball State. Then he broke out in the Boilermakers’ narrow opening loss to Gonzaga, scoring 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting with 7 rebounds while successfully playing through foul trouble in the second half.
“I feel like all the hard work he’s put in over the offseason, he’s building his body and getting bigger because he’s going to have to deal with more physicality this year getting more minutes,” Purdue guard C.J. Cox said. “His shot has definitely improved, his three-point shot, so that will definitely help us out a lot. And I feel like overall, his shot-blocking ability will definitely help us when we’re pressuring the ball and someone’s trying to get to the hoop, Daniel will be there to clean it up. I just feel like overall his game has definitely improved a lot.”
As for the three-point shooting, it has yet to materialize in big numbers, with one attempt in each of Purdue’s three exhibitions and none against Gonzaga. But if that’s part of what will distinguish Jacobsen from his predecessors, it’s only a matter of time.
“It’s coming this year with more opportunity in general, that’ll follow, the higher volume of shots,” Jacobsen said. “Not just on the perimeter but in general, and I’m looking forward to making that a bigger part of my game.”
There’s a lot about his game that’s big already. At this point, it’s just a question of where he aligns with the Purdue big men who have come before him — and where he doesn’t.
Meet your guide
