Successful transition game has Stevie Mitchell earning ‘star’ status at Marquette
You can’t tell by looking at the scoring stats. You won’t hear it from the announcers when they broadcast Marquette’s NCAA Tournament opener Friday against Vermont. But Stevie Mitchell is a star for the Golden Eagles.
Mitchell was a phenom with the ball in his hands at Wilson. He’s the Bulldogs’ all-time scoring leader and one of a handful of 2,000-point scorers in Berks boys basketball history.
He’s found a different lane to success at Marquette, where he’s become a defensive stopper and a key ingredient to one of the nation’s most over-achieving teams. The Golden Eagles were picked before the season to finish ninth in the Big East; now they’re a No. 2 seed in the East Region.
Mitchell hasn’t blinked in making a rare transition from big-time scorer to big-time stopper. He saw that was the best way to get on the court and help the team and he threw himself into the role.
“It fits with our team,” Mitchell said. “We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket, make good plays on offense. It’s just about having balance.
No. 2 Marquette vs. No. 15 Vermont
Friday, 2:45 CBS-TV
“To get on the court, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. For me I saw a role and just played hard defensively and do what the coaches tell us to do. I’m trying to play my role and star at my role to help my team win.”
You don’t often hear the word “star” associated with defense but Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart is a star in terms of getting his players to buy in and play for the team. In Mitchell he found the perfect fit.
“It’s hard for kids to come in and accept different roles than they had in high school,” said Marquette assistant coach Neill Berry, one of Smart’s defensive lieutenants, “but that’s who Stevie is. He’s been amazing. He has an incredible selflessness about him and that’s allows him to do what he does on the floor.
“He truly cares about people around him, and the community. He plays with a ton of energy, toughness. He has pride in wearing that Marquette jersey and representing Marquette, his family, hisself.”
That was Stevie Mitchell at Wilson. He loved playing with his teammates, most of whom he grew up playing with, and in bringing pride to his community. It showed on the court as the Bulldogs went 70-9 his final three seasons, with back-to-back Berks Conference championships and their first District 3 championship in 2020, his junior season.
Mitchell averaged 25.6 points as a senior, a staggering figure considering four of his games came against the best defensive team in the state, Reading High. He didn’t lead the league in scoring twice by taking 30 shots a game; he did it by working within the framework of the offense. He was just as happy to get an assist as a bucket.
He doesn’t score much at Marquette, where he’s averaging 7.0 points, sixth on the team. But he’s been in the starting lineup every game because Smart values his defense and team play.
“He’s a winning guy,” Smart told Marquettewire.com. “He’s a guy that does a lot of really good things for our team. He cares about his teammates first and foremost. He’s a relationship guy. He has strong relationships with a wide variety of guys on our team.
“When he’s lost in the fight and pouring into his teammates with his energy and he’s taking their best offensive perimeter player and saying, ‘No, you’re not getting anything easy’ that’s when he is at his best.”
It’s interesting to note that Marquette has prospered this season because of its offensive efficiency. Smart, at heart, is a defensive guy. That’s what put him and VCU on the map years ago.
Maybe that’s why he appreciates Mitchell so much.
“Coach Smart demands a lot from our guys on the defensive side,” Berry said. “We have a certain style, and a lot of it is based on the point of attack. The guys picking up the ball (need) to have a mentality that ‘I want to disrupt the other team.’ Stevie embodies that at the highest level.
“He’s really embraced it, and our team and our coaching staff appreciate him way more than people on the outside can realize. It’s not an easy job, what he does. He’s the head of what we do defensively, and we’re grateful for what he does every single day.”
The Golden Eagles sophomore barely resembles the guy who once graced a Wilson uniform. Mitchell has tacked some 25 pounds of muscle onto his 6-2 frame, giving him the strength and confidence to handle bigger guys, when needed. He’s versatile enough to defend against smaller point guards or bigger wings.
“He’s so locked into wanting to be great off the floor that it carries over to wanting to be great on the floor,” Haynes said. “He’s trying to figure out ways to get an ‘A’ on guarding. ‘How am I going to stop them?’ and ‘How am I going to get the results that I want by studying film and breaking down this player?’ ”
Tyler Kolek, Marquette’s leading scorer, was named Big East Player of the Year. Smart was selected Coach of the Year. David Joplin was named the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. Kolek, Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones were named to the all-conference team.
Mitchell’s accolades?
He was named one of the Top 10 “Glue Guys” in college basketball by Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today.
That’s enough for Mitchell.
“(I’m) doing whatever I can to help my teammates win,” he said. “Being on the court, and being part of a team that is doing really well, and winning – what more could you really ask for?”
“He truly understands how much he’s appreciated within our locker room,” O’Neill said. “This community around Marquette and Milwaukee has really embraced him. Everybody’s grateful for him and what he does.”
Before the season Smart talked about everyone on the team having a role and the chance to star in it. Mitchell was all-in with the premise.
“We talked about the roles that each other needed to do in terms of being successful,” he said. “We went over what each of us can do to help the team succeed. We’ve done a good job sticking to that and being a star in our roles. He emphasizes each of us starring in our role and working together to be a powerful unit.”
