Matt Haarms (born 22 April 1997) is a Dutch professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Skyliners Frankfurt The Skyliners Frankfurt, currently known as Fraport Skyliners for sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball club based in Frankfurt, Germany. Their home arena is Ballsporthalle. The club has played in the Basketball Bundesliga sinc ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

and the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...

. Haarms also plays for the

Netherlands men's national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the Eur ...

Early life

Haarms is the son of Martine van Hoorn and Peter Haarms. He was born and grew up in Amsterdam. He initially played soccer and judo before taking up basketball. Haarms purchased an outdoor hoop at the age of 14 so he could practice more. Haarms joined a club team, the Harlemlakers, and admittedly was very poor at first but soon developed into one of the top talents in the country. Haarms then moved to Spain and played for

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two teams ...

's junior team. He helped the team reach the championship game of the tournament and hit 5-of-7 three-point shots in the semifinal against Real Madrid. He was offered a professional contract in Spain but declined the invitation. Instead, Haarms moved to the United States to complete a

postgraduate year A postgraduate (PG) year is an extra year of secondary coursework at a boarding school following high school graduation, but before entering college. It is a gap year option intended for students who either have not applied or were not admitted ...

at Sunrise Christian Academy in

Bel Aire, Kansas Bel Aire is a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States, and a suburb of Wichita. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,262. History Bel Aire was founded in January 1955 when a group of local residents petitioned the ...

. He started to receive collegiate attention when he joined the Chauncey Billups AAU Elite team. Haarms committed to playing college basketball for

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

over offers from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Vanderbilt and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, becoming the Boilermakers' sixth international player since 1952. He chose Purdue because he liked coach

Matt Painter Matthew Curtis Painter (born August 27, 1970) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is currently the men's basketball coach at Purdue University, having held that position since 2005. Before Purdue, Painter held coaching positions ...

and the program's record of developing big men.

College career

Purdue

Haarms enrolled at Purdue a semester early and

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

the second half of the 2016–17 season because the NCAA ruled he would have lost a season of eligibility had he stayed at Sunrise Christian. As a redshirt freshman he averaged 4.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in 37 games. His 79 blocked shots were the second-most by a Purdue freshman. Haarms started against

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

in the NCAA Tournament after

Isaac Haas Isaac Haas (born October 2, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers. High school career Haas is the ...

injured his elbow and had a combined 11 points and nine rebounds in the two games. He averaged 9.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 2.1 blocks per game as a redshirt sophomore. On February 19, 2019, Haarms hit a last-second shot to defeat

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

after being taunted by Indiana fans all game. Haarms suffered a head injury in a loss to

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

on December 15, and missed the following game against

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. On January 2, 2020, Haarms scored a career-high 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting in a double-overtime win against

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He suffered a hip injury in a double-overtime loss to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

on January 9. As a junior, Haarms averaged 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Following the season, he transferred from Purdue.

BYU

On April 23, 2020, Haarms announced that he would transfer to

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

over offers from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

and

, gaining immediate eligibility as a graduate transfer. He averaged 11.3 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Haarms was named the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

Defensive Player of the Year and was selected to the All-WCC second team. Following the season, he declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

, forgoing the additional season of eligibility the NCAA granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional career

On 13 July 2021, Haarms signed his first professional contract with German club

of the

. He signed a two-year contract.

National team career

Haarms competed for the Netherlands under-19 team at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and averaged 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Haarms was selected for the Netherlands senior team for the first time in November 2021. On November 26, 2021, Haarms made his debut in a loss against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. He played at

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, coming off the bench and averaging 3.3 points and 3.8 rebounds as a back-up center.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 2 , , 17.1 , , .585 , , .143 , , .542 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .3 , , 2.1 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 23 , , 22.8 , , .632 , , .280 , , .695 , , 5.4 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 2.1 , , 9.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 15 , , 20.5 , , .524 , , .313 , , .634 , , 4.6 , , .9 , , .2 , , 2.0 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 24 , , 23.0 , , .546 , , .194 , , .803 , , 5.0 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 2.0 , , 11.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 127 , , 64 , , 20.7 , , .572 , , .253 , , .674 , , 4.5 , , .9 , , .2 , , 2.0 , , 8.2

References

External links

BYU Cougars bioPurdue Boilermakers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haarms, Matt 1997 births Living people Basketball players from Amsterdam BYU Cougars men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Dutch expatriate basketball people in Spain Dutch expatriate basketball people in the United States Dutch men's basketball players Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players Skyliners Frankfurt players