Marquette's Stevie Mitchell breaking the mold of being 'glue guy' in basketball

The Marquette men’s basketball team will give opponents a lot to worry about this season. But they would be wise not to overlook Stevie Mitchell.

The Golden Eagles’ presumptive starting lineup has four players on preseason watch lists at their positions: Point guard Tyler Kolek for the Bob Cousy Award, shooting guard Kam Jones for the Jerry West Award, small forward David Joplin for the Julius Erving Award and power forward (even though he plays center for MU) Oso Ighodaro for the Karl Malone Award.

Mitchell doesn’t get that kind of national pub. His contributions of hustle, energy and suffocating on-ball defense make the 6-foot-4 junior guard the perfect candidate for the “glue guy” lists that circulate before and after college basketball seasons.

That’s a term that Mitchell jumps on like a loose ball.

“We joke about it,” Mitchell said at Big East media day last week. “We talk about it. My teammates and coaches all gas that term up.

“You ask them, that means just as much as Tyler’s Big East player of the year to them. That’s all I really care about is what my teammates and my coaches think. That makes me happy that they embrace that as well.”

Mitchell has worked closely with assistant coach Nevada Smith since last season ended. They’ve talked about Mitchell embracing his job as "the best fifth option in the nation."

“Looking at all the ways I can make all the guys around me better and I’m obviously working on my game and being ready to take advantage and take a jump in my productivity offensively,” Mitchell said. “And then just continue to get better and have the same defensive mindset and approach.”

And when the ball swings to him, Mitchell is ready to feast on those open looks.

Following 'The Pyramid' to success

Like most NCAA Division I prospects, Mitchell thrived as a scorer in high school. He has the most points in the history of Wilson High School in Reading, Pennsylvania.

But when Mitchell stayed committed to MU after Shaka Smart became head coach, Mitchell had to do whatever it took to get on the court, and mostly that was being a disruptor on defense. He took only 20 three-point attempts as a freshman in the 2021-22 season, knocking down seven.

He looked more confident in his shot as a sophomore, going 21 for 70 (30%) from long distance, and he scored a college-high 19 points in front of friends and family in a road game at Villanova.

Mitchell wanted to be more consistent, so he sought the consul of Smith, whom many MU players look to as the team’s resident shot doctor. Smith helped Kolek’s three-point percentage improve dramatically last season.

“Basically since last year I’ve been shooting with Coach Nevada every day,” Mitchell said. “And just doing different shooting drills. Putting pressure on shooting drills while I’m shooting. He obviously has a lot of drills and knows a lot of stuff.

“I’ll text him every day about what time and we’ll go in there and get shots up for like 20 minutes. I feel like it’s helped my confidence a lot and helped my consistency. The way it feels coming off my hand. Being ready to shoot is the biggest thing for me and that’s something we’ve been focusing on as well. Following through and holding it up, all the stuff you’d teach a 10-year-old.”

A favorite drill they do is called “The Pyramid.”

“It’s seven spots (behind the three-point line),” Smith said. “You start off in the corner. You have to make one in a row, two in a row, three in a row, four in a row …. the whole way up to 11 and then back down.”

Mitchell said Smith keeps his best times on a whiteboard in Smith’s office.

“Stevie got it in 8 minutes and 3 seconds,” Smith said. “Which I don’t think there’s a player in the NBA that can do it in 8 minutes and 3 seconds.

“I mean, you’ve got to make 11 in a row, 10 in a row twice, nine in a row twice, eight in a row twice. And I’ve had NBA guys try it and they can’t do it in eight minutes. So he bought in to winning  some of these ridiculously hard shooting drills.”

Mitchell is proud of his work.

“I challenge any of my teammates to try to beat it,” he said.

With defenses scrambling to cover the Kolek-Ighodaro pick and roll while also worried about the explosive shooting of Jones and Joplin, Mitchell knows there will be a lot of opportunities.

“I’ll be chilling in the corner,” Mitchell said. “I’ll be chilling ready to shoot.”

Breaking out of the glue guy mold

Mitchell’s personality makes him the archetypal glue guy.

“He does a lot of stuff for us,” Jones said. “Whether it be internal, him being there for me if stuff happens with my family, or just something that I’m going through that’s hard or something like that.

“On the court, bringing his energy. You definitely feel his energy when it’s there, and it’s there every day. He helps you. He makes you want to stay up to the standard because of hard he plays and how hard he works. That obviously plays a key role into what makes us who we are and makes us better.”

MU is expected to be one of the best teams in the country this season. If the Golden Eagles break through to their first Final Four since 2003, Mitchell could transcend from glue guy to cult hero.

Smart has been impressed by Mitchell’s growth heading into his third season coaching the guard.

“I think his biggest evolution is growing into becoming more and more comfortable with himself,” Smart said.

Smart has his own terminology for what Mitchell brings to MU.

“He obviously just looks at me like a player, a guy, a dog, a dude,” Mitchell said. “A guy that can pretty much every team doesn’t want to go against. A winner. So that’s the stuff he looks at and calls me and addresses me as.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette's Stevie Mitchell is glue guy of impressive starting lineup