Dillon Mitchell has always been a player that has prided himself on playing with a high motor, but he even questioned his relentless nature when he got to St. John’s and started playing for Rick Pitino.
“I always thought I kind of play hard. I feel like I wasn’t even playing that hard when I got here,” Mitchell said last week at St. John’s media day. “And [Pitino] needed more. He wanted way more.”
The 6-foot-8 forward is now on his third school after spending his first two years at Texas before transferring to Cincinnati last offseason. He excels in transition with his athletic frame and can be a weapon defensively by guarding multiple positions at a high level.
He showcased some of his abilities during St. John’s opening exhibition game against Towson with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals as the Red Storm outscored the Tigers by 14 points when he was on the floor.
“Other schools I’m at, I feel like I’ve always been that kind of guy that is going to outwork and play harder than everybody and when I got here, it’s like I wasn’t even playing hard,” Mitchell continued.
“[Pitino] just pushes you to a whole other level that he knows you’re capable of and you just got to get it out yourself.”
“When I first got here, the first week, I would have thought we were playing in the Final Four the next week,” Mitchell joked. “That’s just how he is and that’s the type of culture that is built here.”
Dillon Mitchell’s success at his prior destinations landed him on the preseason All-Big East Third Team, one of five Red Storm players that earned accolades from the league prior to the start of the year.
The hope is that his experience can help the Johnnies start the season at a similar place defensively to where they ended last year and add to the versatility that Rick Pitino will try to deploy.
"I like Dillon Mitchell, period," Pitino said. "He's a selfless, really good basketball player that has the ability to be great and we're working on the parts that need to get better."
No. 5 St. John’s will get a much tougher challenge in its final exhibition game on Saturday night (7:00 p.m. ET, BTN+) against No. 7 Michigan before opening the season on Monday, November 3 against Quinnipiac.