NCAA Tournament 2018: 5 best shooters in the Sweet 16

2. Dakota Mathias  |  Purdue (#31)

Purdue has been among the top teams in the nation for the majority of the season. They have 30 wins for the first time in program history. Ken Pomeroy rates their offense as the second-best in all the land, behind Villanova.

The Boilermakers suffered an enormous blow to their arsenal when 7-foot-2 senior center Isaac Haas fractured his elbow during the tournament’s first round. He won’t be available moving forward. Fellow senior Dakota Mathias is likely to be a big part of replacing the 28.6 percent of Purdue possessions that Haas was using while on the floor.

The 6-foot-4 Mathias has had a fantastic season beyond the arc, converting 46.3 percent of his 3s. That is eighth-best nationally among qualifying players, per Sports-Reference.

He’s hitting nearly five 3s per 100 possessions on 10.7 attempts. He doesn’t get to the line all that often (1.6 per game), or take many 2-pointers (3 per game), but he’s carried his scorching hand as a junior (45.3 percent from 3) right over into his final year in West Lafayette.

Mathias is also the best passer on Purdue, averaging 7.6 assists per 100 possessions (and team-leading 4 per game). His turnover rate is also very low for a player that handles the ball as much as he does.

While Mathias has an extremely efficient 63.1 effective field goal percentage on the season, and creates a good amount of offense for others, he has a very average usage rate of 18.1 percent.

Purdue is going to need even more from Mathias, Carsen Edwards, and Vince Edwards to get as far as they had planned before the Haas injury. But Carsen Edwards is already at a very high 30.3 percent usage rate this year.

Vince Edwards can likely take on a little more than his current 23.7 percent usage rate. But it is Mathias that will likely be relied upon to assume the most additional responsibility. Look for that to be in the way of an increase in shots from deep, if Purdue is to make a run all the way to San Antonio.