The St. John’s basketball team was looking for help. Its guards were struggling, and it needed a spark on offense.
So, what did Rick Pitino do? He started three forwards – Bryce Hopkins, Dillon Mitchell, and Zuby Ejiofor – and put the ball in the hands of Mitchell much more often.
It has translated to three straight blowout victories for the Red Storm and a new sense of life within the team after some early season struggles.
“He’s the key,” Pitino said of Mitchell on Monday. “He enhances the tempo, makes us better defensively, and ignites us in the half court.”
“Outside of Zuby [Ejiofor], he’s probably the most valuable player because he adds so much more than scoring. He does things that don’t show up in the stat sheet, and that’s why he has tremendous value.”
Against Marquette on Tuesday night, Mitchell went for eight points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Over the last three outings he has a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio while posting 7.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.
“My main goal is just to do whatever it takes to win,” Mitchell said after the 92-68 victory. “Handling the ball, setting screens, rebounding, guarding, whatever it takes to help this team compete at a high level.”
Mitchell’s presence has even helped St. John’s guards play better as Oziyah Sellers has hit 6-of-13 attempts from 3-point range with no turnovers in the last two games while Ian Jackson has committed only two turnovers in the last three contests.
The Red Storm (12-5, 5-1 Big East) have won five of its last six contests and enter another important stretch in its schedule with a road game in Philadelphia on Saturday night (8:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) against Villanova (14-3, 5-1 Big East) and a date with No. 25 Seton Hall (14-3, 4-2 Big East) on Tuesday inside Madison Square Garden.