AMHERST — Tre Mitchell has had several opportunities this season to announce himself on the national stage.
He has quietly been a steady producer for UMass over the last two months and every time he has a big game – like he did earlier this month when dropped 30 points at Rhode Island – someone in the national media has mentioned him being the future of the Atlantic 10. Saturday was a different type of opportunity, however.
Sophomore Obi Toppin, a front-runner for national player of the year honors, came to Amherst with his No. 6 Dayton squad and Mitchell took the challenge to heart. The freshman scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebound in a dominating effort that left his opponents impressed.
“He’s a really good player,” Toppin said. “They give him the ball on every single possession, so some are going to go in and some are not. We’re going to play our regular defense and if his shots are falling, we just know we have to do a lot better next time.”
“Mitchell is really, really talented, he’s really good,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant added. “He’s a really difficult guy to match up with and his ability to stretch you with the way he can step out. And he’s a really good passer as well.”
Despite there being a two-year age gap, it was the younger Mitchell who looked the stronger of the two most of the time in Dayton’s 71-63 win. While Toppin scored many of his 19 points with uncontested dunks and layups with very little resistance, Mitchell powered through tough defense to finish around the rim. He lived in the paint with Toppin or one of Dayton’s other big men guarding him and just outmuscled them to score.
It was the type of performance that certainly impressed his coach as well, who marveled at what Mitchell was able to accomplish at such a young age.
“He came off the floor one time and I told him ‘That’s a grown-man move,’” Matt McCall said. “To be 19 years old in a game like that and make some of the moves he was out there, he didn’t play like a 19-year-old freshman.”
MITCHELL PART II — Kolton Mitchell also had a big day for the Minutemen, even if he didn’t score the ball as much as he would have hoped.
The freshman point guard played a season-high 28 minutes and dished out a season-best six assists without a single turnover. He did make just one of his four shots and one of his four free throws, but it still looked like Mitchell is still trying to figure out how to play with both hands after being reduced to one for so long after breaking his hand in the season opener.
Mitchell didn’t make any excuses for his poor shooting, but his mere presence on the court was a big part of why UMass was able to stick with Dayton for so long. The Minutemen had just nine turnovers – one of McCall’s biggest keys to the game – and the coach credited the freshman point guard for his poise and maturity in running the offense. Mitchell said he knew he had a specific job to do Saturday and put an extra emphasis on not taking unnecessary risks against Dayton.
“He told me to take care of the ball and he gave me the keys to the car, so I have to not wreck it,” Mitchell said. “If that means not turning the ball over then I can’t turn the ball over. Just be smart with it, make smart plays, make the right reads and I did that the majority of the night.”
3s STRIKE OUT — UMass’ struggles from behind the arc continued against Dayton as the Minutemen converted just 4 of 20 3-point attempts against the Flyers. It was the team’s fourth straight game shooting 25 percent or worse from long distance after doing it just twice in the first 17 games of the season.
McCall was still confident UMass is a much better 3-point shooting team than it is showing recently, but said it’s time for his team to just execute and make the shots.
“We’re getting good looks, the looks are not going down,” McCall said. “I’m not saying some of them are not good, but we’re getting a lot of them that are good and we’ve got to make them. I have all the confidence in the world in our guys to make them, but we’re getting some good ones, especially when Tre’s throwing it out of the post, we have to be able to drill shots.”