As a freshman, he stood 7-foot-1. When he came back as a sophomore, he grew to 7-foot-2. Prior to his junior season, he grew again, to 7-foot-3. Now, entering his senior season with LMU men's basketball, Mattias Markusson is poised for his biggest year yet.
 
The Swedish big man had choices aplenty on where he wanted to spend his final season playing college basketball. As a graduate student following his year hiatus from the game, Markusson was being courted by several of the country's best programs in need of immediate service from the center that has improved in each of his first three seasons with the Lions.
 
Along with the nation's elite vying for Markusson's skillset, newly appointed LMU Head Coach Stan Johnson made it his goal to keep the big in a Lions' uniform for the upcoming season.
 
"On day one of accepting this job, my number one recruit was Mattias," said Johnson. "My approach was to take nothing for granted and to recruit him as if he was never at Loyola Marymount University. In doing so, I have not only grown to respect him as a player, but more importantly I've come to love him as a person."
 
On April 10^th, Markusson's birthday, it was Johnson who received the best gift of all: Mattias Markusson was going to play at LMU in 2020-21.
 
"I'm extremely proud that he's decided to stay and finish what he started," said Johnson. "His decision is one of the sweetest recruiting battles I've experienced in my 17 years of coaching. For me it represents not only what is possible for the season in front of us, but more importantly who we can be as a program moving forward. Mattias is a big part of what we want to accomplish this year and I look forward to helping him develop into a complete player and helping him and our seniors leave here as winners on the floor. I'd like to thank our entire team (players, administrators, and coaches) for all their help in getting Mattias back. It's a constant reminder that we can do more together than alone. I can't wait to coach the big fella!"
 
Markusson, who last played during LMU's 22-win 2018-19 season, brings a lot to Coach Johnson's first team on the Bluff.
 
Off the court, Markusson is a former WCC All-Academic Team performer who will be playing as a graduate student with his psychology degree in his back pocket.
 
On the court, Markusson is a scoring big man with a knack for disrupting on the defensive end with shot blocking ability, size, and rebounding prowess.
 
LMU's all-time lead in field goal percentage, making 59.1 percent of his career-attempts attempts and a program-record 62.1 percent in his sophomore season alone, also improved his free throw percentage by over 13 points as a junior to shoot 76.1 percent from the line.
 
As a result, his scoring increased from 57 points In year one, to 268 in his second year, to averaging double-figures with 348 points as a junior. With 673 career-points, Markusson has a chance to join teammate Eli Scott in the 1,000-point club with a strong senior season.
 
His rebounding numbers show a similar trend of improvement year-after-year. Markusson grabbed 38 boards as a freshman, 196 as a sophomore, and 215 as a junior, leaving the Swede 51 rebounds away from becoming LMU's 29^th member of the 500-rebound club.
 
Markusson's 76 blocked shots rank eight all-time in program history, and only three Lions, Sherman Gay (144), Marin Mornar (131), and Chris Ayer (110) have ever swatted triple-digit shot attempted for the Lions.
 
With his 91 games played, including 64 of those being games started, LMU fans are eager to see the final chapter of Mattias Markusson's storied career.

On April 29, 2020, Markusson joined Erik Johansson for an Instagram Live Question and Answer session. Watch that video here:


 
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