GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2 44
Defensive improvements transform Mathias
Complete
BY STACY CLARDIE
SClardie@GoldandBlack.com
D
akota Mathias was ticked.
He'd just pressed through a wicked-
ly difficult freshman season for Purdue,
enduring a virus that he later labeled as vertigo,
on top of other nagging injuries, to still play 34
games.
And then, as a sophomore, he was sitting on
the bench too much for his liking. Didn't coaches
know he had an incredible basketball IQ? Didn't
they know he played with savvy? Didn't they know
he could stick perimeter shots at just as good of a
rate — probably better, even — than the dudes
who were playing instead?
Mathias was not a happy guy.
He'd spent every ounce of himself, including
what felt like literally all his guts that first year as
he threw up before nearly every practice because
Charles Jischke
Matt Painter said senior Dakota Mathias
is "an all-conference player that just
hasn't been named to an all-conference
team. All around, he just does things that
impact the game."
