There are a lot of stories in the college basketball recruiting world that remain untold. Fortunately, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd was willing to peel back the curtain on one tale involving current Purdue center Daniel Jacobsen.
Lloyd was the head coach for USA Basketball in the FIBA U19 World Cup earlier this year, which won a gold medal with a perfect 7-0 record in the event. Jacobsen was one of the 12 players to make the roster and make an impact on the floor.
Just a few years ago, Lloyd wouldn’t have believed it was possible for Jacobsen to win a gold medal with Team USA in the event. It had nothing to do with the 7-foot-4 center’s skills, but rather that Lloyd wasn’t aware Jacobsen was from the United States.
“Awesome kid, awesome story,” Lloyd told Andy Katz in a recent interview. “I went to an open gym at Brewster (Academy in Chicago), where he played high school, because we were recruiting another kid there who is on our team now, Dwayne Aristode.
“I’m watching this kid like, ‘What country is that kid from? I’m assuming he’s some European kid or something, and they’re like, ‘He’s from New Mexico.’ I was like ‘That’s not a country, that’s a state.'”
How fitting that, just a few years later, Jacobsen would play for Lloyd with Team USA and bring a gold medal back to the United States.
Lloyd says Jacobsen made an impact
This summer marked the second year in which Jacobsen won a gold medal with Team USA. The Purdue center also won gold in the FIBA U18 World Cup last summer.
Jacobsen finished the event averaging 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while logging about 14 minutes per contest. Additionally, he averaged 1.9 blocks per game, which ranked as the second-highest average in the event.
Lloyd said that the 7-footer had some struggles early on with USA Basketball, but once he got into a rhythm, he was able to really provide some help on both ends of the court.
“That U19 deal, it’s a monster. He was kind of slow to start in tryouts, and over the course of training camp and the tournament, he got better and really made an impact. I think he’s going to have a big impact on Purdue’s program going forward.”
Jacobsen is looking to bounce back for Purdue in the 2025-26 campaign after missing nearly his entire freshman season with an injury.
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