It is no coincidence that the fortunes of this St. John’s season changed when Dillon Mitchell was promoted back into the starting lineup.
Before Mitchell was promoted in the rotation, St. John’s was standing
at a 9-5 record and in danger of falling off the tournament bubble after a disastrous defeat to now-last-place Providence. Once head coach Rick Pitino shifted to a three-man starting frontcourt of Mitchell, Bryce Hopkins, and Zuby Ejiofor in their next game against Butler on January 6, the Red Storm are a perfect 7-0 and are in striking distance of first place in the Big East.
“I’m having so much fun watching Dillon Mitchell play. I don’t think I’ve said that too many times in my 52 years of coaching,” Pitino said post-game after Wednesday’s 92-70 win over Butler, “It’s not like having another point guard on the floor, it’s like having another coach out there.”
Mitchell only came off the bench in one of his first 107 career games across stints at Texas and Cincinnati, but after starting the first two games of the season for St. John’s, Mitchell was relegated to the bench and served as the first forward to come off the pine when Zuby Ejiofor was in foul trouble or needed a rest. However, these three-guard lineups came at the expense of the Red Storm’s defensive and rebounding consistency, and that necessitated a change.
“We took [Mitchell] out of the starting lineup [earlier in the year] because it was much easier to rotate substitutions,” Pitino explained on Wednesday. “It’s obvious that we’re a much better basketball team at all phases of the game when he’s on the court. It’s great, that’s what happens, you have all of these new players, you experiment, you come to a conclusion, and now we’re a good basketball team because of his presence on the court.”
The results with Mitchell starting games are night and day. According to BartTorvik, St. John’s is the 12th-best team in the country in aggregate rating since the Tampa native was brought back into the lineup on January 6, ahead of teams like Kansas, Iowa State, and bitter rival UConn.
It was easy to foresee that St. John’s would make a defensive jump with Mitchell as a starter, but the way he has added an entirely new dimension to this Red Storm offense is the biggest surprise.
By constantly moving on cuts or rolls to the basket, handling the ball with ease for a 6-foot-9 forward, and becoming an effective distributor for a team that had notorious playmaking concerns, Mitchell unlocked a St. John’s offense that has scored 84 or more points in six of their last seven games. He is averaging 11.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.4 steals. His 17.5% assist rate ranks in the 95th percentile among qualified forwards, even though he has a 16.3% usage rate, meaning he is doing the most to set up his teammates in the modest amount of touches he gets.
“I feel like I’m playing more freely, and playing to our strengths,” Mitchell said post-game on Wednesday after recording 14 points and 13 rebounds against Butler, “That’s the biggest thing, being able to handle the ball a little bit, take some pressure off our guards, and make plays for them to get the shots that we need them to shoot.”
That selfless play has benefitted his two frontcourt mates, in particular. Zuby Ejiofor is facing less defensive attention and playing more disciplined basketball. Before the move, Ejiofor averaged 3.0 assists to 2.8 turnovers per game in the 14 games before this stretch, but with Mitchell starting next to him in the last seven games, the star center is now averaging 3.9 assists to 1.7 turnovers per game. Bryce Hopkins battled with inconsistency to begin the season, but scored in double-figures in the first six games with Mitchell back as a starter, and could have done so versus Butler if the game was not a blowout.
“[Dillon’s role] changed a lot for us. I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s capable of doing a little bit of everything,” Zuby Ejiofor said of his teammate, “He’s a really gritty guy who gets it done on both sides of the ball. He got a double-double, I didn’t even get a double-double! He’s a great player, and an even better person off the court as well.”
Mitchell and the Red Storm will look to keep it rolling in their next game against the DePaul Blue Demons (12-9, 4-6 Big East) in Chicago on Tuesday, February 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and the game can be streamed on Peacock.
