WCC Basketball: In-depth look at Mattias Markusson of Loyola Marymount
By Bryan Mauro
Why you should know Mattias Markusson
Loyola Marymount struggled mightily without Markusson on the floor last year. In the previous offseason, the big man decided that he was going to take a redshirt for what he deemed “personal reasons”.
He then decided to enter his name into the transfer portal to see what was out there. The big man started to receive interest from some very big programs including Lousiville and many in the Lions camp thought their big man was as good as gone.
The Swedish big man had a change of heart and decided to remove his name from the transfer portal and come back to Loyola Marymount. Coach Johnson made keeping Markusson his first order of business after he took over for former coach Mike Dunlap. Reaffirming the commitment of the Swedish big man was a huge win for the first-year head coach.
The big man has developed into a double-digit scorer and is the most efficient player in Lions history. He currently sports a 59 percent career field goal percentage and it was helped a lot by the 62 percent he shot his sophomore year. Markusson is also not your typical big man as he is an asset at the free throw line and can make teams pay late in the game for putting him on the line.
Where the Swedish big man is going to make the most difference is on the defensive side of the ball. He is a good rebounder and protects the rim but the part where he affects the game the most is something that will not show up on a stat sheet his size and athleticism.
7’3” is something that you can not coach that kind of size changes games and alters most shots because most players are never going to get a great look at the basket. Markusson will help on the defensive side of the ball and help the Lions with the easy offense. Any time you can get a 7’3” efficient player your team will be better off.