Stevie Mitchell, Marquette off to a fast start with season-opening win
Stevie Mitchell and Marquette got off to a strong start Monday in their season opener, beating Radford 79-69 in Milwaukee.
Wilson’s all-time scoring leader got his first college start and hit half his 10 shots to finish with 11 points. His basket late in the first half gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good.
Mitchell, a 6-2 sophomore, played 21 1/2 minutes and had seven rebounds, one assist and one steal before fouling out. He was good on 1-of-2 free throws.
He was part of a game-turning 16-0 run in the second half that pushed Marquette’s lead to 69-50.
“He brought a level of energy and joy to the game that was needed because at times, we had other guys that got a little frustrated,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said after the game, according to marquettewire.org. “Stevie was a positive domino in that way.”
Mitchell appeared in all 32 games a year ago, averaging 10.8 minutes and 2.8 points. He had 30 assists and 22 steals.
Mitchell started in the backcourt Monday along with Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek. He was in the starting lineup for each of Marquette’s scrimmages before the season-opener.
Oso Ighodaro led Marquette with 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting Monday.
Marquette was selected to finish ninth in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll for the second straight season. It finished 19-13 overall and 11-8 in the Big East last season, Smart’s first. Their biggest league win came over Villanova.
Freshman guard Kenyon Giles had 15 points for the Golden Eagles Monday. Marquette freshmen Sean Jones, Ben Gold and Chase Ross, alongside redshirt freshman Keeyan Itejere and graduate transfer Zach Wrightsil each made their NCAA debuts.
The Golden Eagles continue their season-opening homestand Thursday against Central Michigan at the Al McGuire Center. It will Marquette’s first on-campus game since 2018.
Mitchell was a two-time Berks Player of the Year at Wilson, where he scored 2,060 career points, fourth-most in Berks history.
Following last season Mitchell received the Hank Raymonds Sportsmanship Award and shared the Academic Excellence honor with redshirt freshman Ighodaro. It’s rare for a true freshman to receive Academic Excellence honors.
The Hank Raymonds Award was established in 1983, in honor of the former Marquette head coach, who retired that year.
