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Matt Painter has had the luxury of developing project players for much of his time at Purdue. Sandi Marcius, Jacquil Taylor, Jay Simpson, and Matt Haarms come to mind as big men that had to redshirt early in their career for developmental purposes or other reasons. The Chooch and Haarms developed into fine players, while Taylor and Simpson were hampered by health issues. Today we feature a guy coming in to year 3 in the program seeking a breakout.
Emmanuel Dowuona - So. (RS)
Accra, Ghana (Miami Westwood Christian)
6’10”, 245 pounds
Center
2020-21 Projection: Contributor at Center
Dowuona was highly rated based on his potential. He was a top 100 recruit in the 2018 recruiting cycle with offers from Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Memphis, and Miami. This year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Miami will be a homecoming of sorts for him because he came to the United States from Ghana in 2015 and played his high school ball at Miami’s Westwood Christian. Last year in his first season on the court he saw limited action, scoring 12 points in nine games with a season high of 4 against Chicago State.
I am not Ghana lie: I expect a lot more out of Dowuona this year. It is year three for him and it is time to contribute. With the surprise transfer of Haarms and Zach Edey being a freshman, Dow now has every opportunity to be the top man in the middle after Trevion Williams. Can he give us 10-15 minutes per night of rebounding, defense, and post play? That’s what we might need from him.