Duke Basketball: Purdue transfer Mason Gillis will call Jon Scheyer his next coach
Mason Gillis spent four seasons as a Boilermaker changing his scenery.
Mason Gillis and the Purdue Boilermakers are coming off a national championship game where they were ultimately outmatched by the eventual national champions, the UConn Huskies. The score ended in a double-figure deficit for Purdue, becoming one win away from avenging their history-making loss against FDU a year ago.
Gillis decided to part ways with the only school he's known in college basketball (starting to become very rare these days) and committed to the Duke Blue Devils on April 22nd, per Joe Tipton.
The New Castle, Indiana, native scored 6.5 points and hauled in 3.9 rebounds plus 1.7 assists, all to go along with his 47.9 percent conversion rate from the field.
Although his numbers do not pop out on your screen, it's probably best to know that he has averaged at least 35 percent from behind the three-point line every single year he's been playing. As a freshman, he logged in 35.2 percent, followed by 41.4 and 35.6, and then back up to 46.8 percent this past year. Extremely consistent and, more importantly, productive.
Gillis was named the Big Ten Conference Sixth Man of the Year this past season, despite the lower numbers you'd probably expect from a big contributor off the bench. Especially if you consider how far Purdue made it during the 2023–2024 journey. His performance proves that it's more than just what shows on the stat sheet.
His highest-scoring output fell on January 9th against Nebraska on the road as his team took a loss, 88-72. Gillis popped 16 points, along with one rebound and one assist. One interesting fact about his performance during the NCAA Tournament is that out of Purdue's six outings, he only scored in two of them, despite receiving 15+ minutes of game time.
Gillis likes to spot up around the arc and shoots the basketball with ease. He lurks around the line, as it's hard to find him anywhere else unless he's going for a putback off an offensive rebound or making a hard cut to the rim. His game lives and breathes three-pointers, so it should not be hard for Duke fans to figure out what kind of player they're getting later this year. His 6-foot-6 and 225-pound frame provides much-needed strength down low for Coach Jon Scheyer.
Next. 10 early offseason team winners. 10 early offseason team winners. dark
An experienced player is desperately needed for the newcomers making up the 2024–2025 roster.
Great grab, Coach Scheyer.