WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue’s Dakota Mathias introduced himself as an impact player at the beginning of this season in late 2016. But 2016 was also a year for a farewell.
Mathias, the career scoring leader at Elida High School with 1,906 points, grew up in a house with a much-discussed half-court gym attached.
Early in 2016 his family sold the house. But he didn’t let that transaction pass without one last ceremonial shot at the basket where he and his brothers took so many shots.
“I did hit a final three in there,” Mathias said.
The 6-foot, 4-inch junior guard has hit many more threes for Purdue (20-5, 9-3 Big Ten) as a starter for the Boilermakers this season. He is averaging 10.0 points, 3.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds a game, leads the team in 3-pointers with 54 and is shooting 49 percent behind the 3-point line.
He is averaging 30 minutes of playing time per game, second only to Big Ten Player of the Year Caleb Swanigan on the Boilermakers, after averaging 19 minutes a game last season.
Like any player, Mathias was eager for more playing time. At his season-ending review with Purdue’s coaches he asked what it would take to get that time.
When head coach Matt Painter gave him a rather lengthy list of areas where improvement could make him a full-time player, Mathias decided to stay on campus during an early summer session, known as the “Maymester” at Purdue.
“A lot of guys go home for a month or five or six weeks. But I stayed here and worked on my body with our strength coach, just getting in better shape, trying to get quicker,” Mathias said.
“I think, especially on the defensive end, I’m moving better laterally than I have before. So, I think that has paid off. Every little thing adds up,” he said.
When Mathias first got to Purdue the big question about him was if he had the lateral quickness to defend Big Ten guards.
There were times early in his career when Purdue avoided having him match up with top-flight guards. But, with his improved quickness and strength, he has drawn the defensive assignment on an opponent’s No. 1 guard several times this season, including taking on Maryland’s Melo Trimble and Iowa’s Peter Jok.
Television Dan Dakich says he thinks Mathias should be the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Mathias is also big on studying video of opponents he will be guarding. “Any edge you can get on your opponent is huge, especially on the defensive end,” he said. “I enjoy studying film, looking at tendencies, what guys like to do, what moves they like to do. Every little advantage you can get helps.”
Another sign that Mathias has emerged as a key player is that he has acquired a nickname, created by Rick Pizzo of the Big Ten Network, who began calling him The Midwestern Cowboy.
“I’m not really sure,” Mathias said, when asked how it started. “One of the guys at the Big Ten Network said it after a game and it kind of stuck and now they always say it.”
If things work out the way Mathias hopes, that nickname will be in use deep into the postseason.
“We think we can get to the Final Four and win a national championship. We have a lot of pieces,” he said recently on the Big Ten Network.
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