Mitchell making presence felt on defense
AUSTIN — Creighton sophomore Ryan Nembhard cooked just about every defender he faced in last month’s Maui Invitational. The 6-foot guard averaged 20.3 points on 51.4 percent shooting and 4.3 assists against three ranked teams, wreaking havoc with kinetic drives and staggering handles.
But briefly matched up against Texas freshman forward Dillon Mitchell last Thursday in Creighton’s first game back from Hawaii, Nembhard found himself straightjacketed.
Mitchell hung with the Bluejay guard and smothered a baseline drive, so Nembhard scurried backwards and flipped a pass to 6-3 guard Francisco Farabello. The 6-8 Longhorn kept pursuing and leaped toward the 3-point line, forcing Farabello to abandon the shot and pass away as the Longhorns rotated.
Nembard eventually twisted up Texas forward Christian Bishop and scooped in an acrobatic and-1 layup with five seconds left on the shot clock — and with Mitchell on the opposite side of the floor. But it was an exhausting possession for Creighton, its two guards eclipsed and hounded by this sprightly freshman in the second half of a close game.
Mitchell doesn’t put up “wow” numbers, at least not the sort that would convey his true impact to anyone perusing dayafter box scores.
The high-flying freshman needs to be intently scrutinized to be fully understood and appreciated. Because Mitchell’s defensive versatility has been an indispensable part of No. 2 Texas’ perfect start to the season,
with wins over then-no. 2 Gonzaga and No. 7 Creighton already stamped onto its resume.
And with the Longhorns (6-0) readying to face No. 17 Illinois (6-2) Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York, Mitchell's ability to switch seamlessly and guard every player on the floor, even for brief four- or five-second spurts, will be essential to beating another top 25 foe.
“D-mitch is a special young player,” Texas coach Chris Beard said Monday. “He's really a position-less player. We hear that word a lot in basketball, and certainly that's what pro basketball is these days. He's a guy that can guard five positions. He could do a lot of things on the floor offensively, but a lot of things that he does as a young guy defensively are really big for us.”
Mitchell has started all six games to begin his college career. He's averaging 8.2 points on a team-high 68.8 percent shooting, 6.2 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 0.2 blocks in 19.7 minutes per game. Maybe those statistics don't scream “lottery pick,” but everything else does.
Texas ranks third nationally in defensive efficiency, ninth in scoring defense and 13th in opponent field goal percentthe age. And according to a statistical metric developed by reputed statistician Evan Miyakawa, Mitchell has been the nation's fifth-rated impact defender.
Miyakawa's defensive performance rating incorporates a player's “individual efficiency stats and on-court play-byplay impact while accounting for the “defensive strength of other teammates on the floor and the offensive strength of the opponent's players.”
It's a bit of a tedious definition. But there's nothing dull about watching Mitchell race through a thicket of screens, aggressively hedge a pick-and-roll, body up a 7-footer in the post or burst out toward the arc to contest a 3. And sometimes, he'll do all that on one possession.
“I know my role and I'm continuing to grow as a player to be able to guard bigs and stuff like that, then when bigs guard me being able to use my talent to get around them, use my speed and stuff,” Mitchell said. “We don't really have bigs, we have position-less players who are able to switch.”
Illinois has plenty of talented players for Mitchell to test himself against. That list starts with Texas Tech transfer Terrance Shannon Jr., a 6-6 senior and former Beard recruit who's now averaging a team-high 19.8 points, 3.5 assists and 2.6 3s per game for Illini.
Texas will throw multiple defenders at Shannon. But Mitchell's length and lateral quickness might make him the Longhorns' best hope of slowing down the Big Ten's third-leading scorer.
“I think he's an NBA player,” Beard said of Shannon. “He's a great competitor. He's a dynamic player. We're gonna have to do a great job here (against Shannon) to be successful in this game.”
Mitchell doesn't want to be anyone other than himself. But when asked about the players he admires, a template comes into focus for Texas' twoway freshman force.
“I like to watch Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Giannis (Antetokounmpo). Some of those players who just play hard,” Mitchell explained, naming three future Hall of Famers with 17 combined All-defensive selections. “My biggest thing is I every time I go out there, I don't want to take a play off. I just want to play with a motor. I like to watch players who play like that, guys who just get it out of the dirt. They play hard and make plays for themselves.”
Nembhard and Creighton found out last week just how dedicated Mitchell is to that lifestyle. And Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, it'll be Illinois' turn.