Purdue men’s basketball will be without star freshman center Daniel Jacobsen for the remainder of the season, per a media availability from head coach Matt Painter on Sunday.

Jacobsen suffered a broken tibia on Friday night against Northern Kentucky. After only playing one minute, Jacobsen fell to the ground after hitting his chin on a Northern Kentucky defender. He had to be helped off the court by his teammates and go straight to the locker room. Jacobsen emerged minutes later on crutches and with ice on his right leg.

Following the game, Painter told reporters that it was a lower leg injury, not knee or ankle, and that Jacobsen would undergo scans to determine the severity of the injury. Those scans have now revealed the worse-case scenario for the Boilermakers.

Jacobsen had started the first two games of the season and was showing tons of potential. His 13 points on 4/6 shooting against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi made all the headlines. The 7’4 center will be missed heavily by this offense.

The injury now puts the Boilermakers in a tough position, as Painter has been vocal about Purdue’s big men not having much separation to start the season. Jacobsen appeared to be finding his footing and had grasped the starting role, at least for the start of the year, but now that spot is up for grabs once again.

In Jacobsen’s absence on Friday, the trio of Will Berg, Caleb Furst, and Raleigh Burgess all saw minutes. As a group, they combined for 19 points and 14 rebounds in 41 minutes of game action. Purdue will now depend upon those three, along with junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, on the interior moving forward, but now more questions have presented themselves in the post for the Boilermakers.

It will be interesting to see what Matt Painter does with this team going forward, he will have a real test on his hands this season.

Let’s wish Jacobsen a fast recovery and a successful surgery.

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