Mitchell taming biggest critic: herself
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After games against Michigan State and Purdue in early January in which Kelsey Mitchell went 7 of 35 from the field, Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said he wasn’t too concerned about his star junior guard.
He wasn’t worried about the sure lefthanded shot coming back, and with good reason. Mitchell went on to score 20 points or more in Ohio State’s next 11 games. He wasn’t worried about her effort, either. Even McGuff said he didn’t know how many afterhours shots Mitchell averaged in a week.
The fourth-year coach’s only worry about Mitchell at the time was that she put too much pressure on herself.
On the eve of Ohio State’s first- round NCAA Tournament game against Western Kentucky ( 27- 6) in Lexington, Kentucky, the internal pressures are there. Ohio State set the bar last year with a Sweet 16 appearance and enters this year’s tournament more talented, even with standout rebounder Stephanie Mavunga a game-time decision because of a foot injury.
It’s enough for any leading scorer to want to put her team’s successes and failures on her shoulders, but McGuff said Mitchell is aware that she has others to lean on.
“She knows, but I had a conversation with her,” McGuff said. “One of the things that she has done a great job of this year, especially in the latter half of the year, is making people around her better.”
Ask anyone around Ohio State’s team about Mitchell, who ranks seventh nationally at 23.0 points per game, and the harshest critic is guaranteed to be Mitchell.
Still, she has been able to turn the page, as have the Buckeyes ( 26- 6), who have lost back-to-back games just once this season.
“I think our team does a good job of knowing winning is important,” Mitchell said. “We’re one of those teams that we don’t like to lose. So, we’ve got to fix whatever to get it right the next time.”
Kelsey’s father, Ohio State assistant coach Mark Mitchell, said there are few who can crack the code to getting Kelsey to relax about her performances, including Mark’s mother, Marva, who is often quick with a Bible verse to calm her granddaughter.
“My mom is her lifeline,” Mark Mitchell said, laughing. “If my mom can’t get her to calm down, then we’re in trouble.”
Mark said he passed his tendency to be self- critical onto his daughter. It’s a desire to be part of the solution, he said, not the problem.
Kelsey Mitchell’s need to be better is undoubtedly one of many reasons for an Ohio State career that already includes two Big Ten player of the year awards in three seasons, but Mitchell has grown to channel it.
Mark Mitchell said Kelsey began her Ohio State career thinking it was “taboo” to watch herself on film, that it was too difficult to watch.
“Now she has watched film more and more, and that has helped her because it’s like, ‘ Oh, I didn’t do as bad as I thought I did,’ ” Mark said.
She also is better able to adapt on the fly, switching to mid-range jumpers when threepointers aren’t falling. After a 3-of-22 performance against Purdue in a Big Ten tournament loss, she spent the next week averaging 2,000 made shots — mostly mid-range jumpers — per day, her father said.
The junior has been able to bounce back because she is tough, having played basketball with grown men from a young age.
In his daughter’s
Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky ESPN2 WBNS-AM (1460)
Ohio State 26-6; Western Kentucky 27-6
Ohio State and Western Kentucky will play in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1993 and for the first time in a postseason game since the 2001 WNIT. … WKU has won 12 straight games, including three straight by double digits. … Ohio State scored just 60 points, its lowest point total of the season, in a Big Ten semifinal game against Purdue. … Under Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, the Buckeyes are 3-2 in NCAA Tournament games.
game, Mark said he sees Kelsey’s older twin brothers, Kevin and Cameron. He sees the crossover of De’Andre Byrd, one of his former players at Taft High School in Cincinnati.
He also sees a player whose failures on the court are few but now are more often internally forgiven. G Kelsey Mitchell, 5-8, Jr., 23.0 G Sierra Calhoun, 6-0, So., 9.7 G Kiara Lewis, 5-8, Fr., 7.1 F Shayla Cooper, 6-2, Sr., 10.5 F Tori McCoy, 6-4, Fr., 7.8
F Hart, 6-3, Jr., 4.6; G Doss, 5-7, Jr., 5.4; G Harper, 5-8, Jr., 8.5; F Waterman, 6-2, So., 3.3 G Micah Jones, 5-8, Sr., 6.9 F Tashia Brown, 6-0, Jr., 13.4 G Kendall Noble, 5-11, Sr., 16.1 F Ivy Brown, 6-1, Jr., 13.3 F Kyvin Goodin-Rogers, 6-2, Sr., 8.0
G Akpan, 5-10, Sr., 2.8; G Bopp, 5-6, So., 4.1; G/F Smith, 5-11, So., 4.0
“That’s the one thing I always tell her, ‘ At some point in time, the man upstairs puts you in some positions to grow,’ ” Mark Mitchell said. “Through failure you’re going to grow, so just be able to accept it and move on.”