JackJumpers system built for Mathias

Dakota Mathias' face has been in the wars to start life at the Tasmania JackJumpers but he's earned the admiration of his coach and has found a perfect situation to allow his game to flourish so far in NBL27.

Mathias already had a taste of playing in the NBL last season at the Brisbane Bullets, and even though he came in late as an injury replacement and lasted just eight games before a broken collarbone, he knew it was a league he was open to returning to.

And then with the way the JackJumpers team came together, having a player of Mathias' skill set where he is a lethal shooter and scorer who doesn’t need the ball in his hands, but it will always be ready and able to shoot, was the perfect fit.

With a point guard like Taran Armstrong, a front court featuring Will Magnay, Josh Bannan, Majok Deng and Ben Gold, and then fellow imports David Johnson and once he returns, Bryce Hamilton, what Mathias offered was the perfect fit for the JackJumpers.

And now after seven games, he's producing 13.6 points and 4.4 rebounds on 41 per cent three-point shooting, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

Mathias' first knock came in the win away to Melbourne United where he left with a bloody nose and returned all bandaged up and barely able to breathe.

He took another hit then against the Illawarra Hawks where he had to go to hospital to get checked out, and has since had to have a procedure just to help him breathe for the rest of the season until he can get his nose properly back in order.

Following Sunday's win against the New Zealand Breakers at MyState Bank Arena, coach Scott Roth was full of praise for the efforts of Mathias to have 17 points with 5/9 three-point shooting.

"He's had a hell of a week after he obviously hurt his nose again in Illawarra," Roth said.

"He was under anaesthesia about three days ago to get his nose hopefully cleared up a little to help him breathe even though it's not fixed yet.

"He kept texting me about not missing the game and we got him a mask ASAP, and he didn’t practice the whole week before we played Adelaide.

"Then we didn’t have time to practice before this game but his toughness I wouldn’t say has shocked me, but he is very much about winning and the school he went to at Purdue is about winning. He's another guy that fits our mould of the kind of person we want wearing green."

The 30-year-old had a four-year college career with Purdue and has since been a G League regular, mixed in with some NBA appearances with the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies.

Before coming to Brisbane last season, he also had some international experience playing in Spain and Germany so he's got a world of experience to bring with him to the JackJumpers.

He's not too worried about the knocks to his face so far and loves the new home he's making in Tasmania.

"It's getting better day by day and it's going to take a little bit, but we're alright," Mathias said.

"I love it here and I find it very similar here to Purdue with the grit and grind, the toughness, the people.

"They enjoy basketball, they know basketball so it's very similar to where I played at school so it feels at home for me here. I enjoy coming here, I love this arena and this crowd and atmosphere is incredible so far."

Mathias' great strengths are his ability to run around screens to get open, to work in dribble handoff situations, and just to do whatever he can to get himself that split second he needs to catch the ball and get off a shot.

He's made a career out of being a lethal shooter including shooting at 42 per cent from behind the arc his entire 141-game college career with Purdue while averaging 8.1 points including 12.0 as a senior when he shot 47 per cent from deep.

That has continued through life as a professional and he couldn’t be happier with the system he's now part of with the JackJumpers.

"Especially with the roster we have with a good lead guard like we do with Taran and then the way the bigs set screens and get in DHOs and set pin downs, and things like that, I think it's a good fit for my style of play being able to move and shoot," Mathias said.

"It just comes with the flow we have on offence especially from our big guys. Will, Banno and Goldy are physical, tough guys so flying off screens with them there, you know they'll make the hits for you and then your job is just to make the shots.

"Our system is kind of built for that so I just gotta knock them down."

Mathias will now have a second chance to play against his team of last season, the Bullets, in Wednesday night's Ignite Cup match up at MyState Bank Arena.

It was quite the memorable win only two weeks ago in Brisbane, with the JackJumpers prevailing 109-99 in overtime, with Mathias delivering 19 points and four rebounds.

It might have been a short stint last season at the Bullets, but he did enjoy his time there and is looking forward to trying to now get another win against them on Wednesday night.

"We've already played them once so it will be good to play them again to get them down here so that's going to be exciting," Mathias said.

"It's our third game as well in about six days so we're looking to finish it off the right way.

"And when I was with Brisbane last year one of the away games was here and I was very impressed with the crowd and atmosphere so once we signed here that was one of the big things I was excited about to be able to play in this arena and for these fans for a whole year."