Where Deon Mitchell goes, the Northern Iowa men?s basketball team usually follows.
So when the sophomore slumped for four games, the Panthers bogged down as well. They?re off to a 1-3 start in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Mitchell?s re-emergence as a premier playmaker in Saturday?s rout of Bradley couldn?t have come at a better time. He had 15 points and a career-high seven assists in 37 sterling minutes of play.
His chance at an encore comes at 7 p.m. today at No. 12 Creighton (16-1, 5-0 Valley).
?He does all the little things to get our team going, really get that pace that coach (Ben Jacobson) wants,? said Marc Sonnen, the prime beneficiary of Mitchell?s excellence Saturday with 21 points.
The little things were what kept Mitchell out of the starting lineup in the previous two games for Northern Iowa (9-8, 2-3). First, he came down with a flu bug before a home loss to Indiana State. The next game was at Illinois State, but Mitchell missed the bus to the shootaround and was benched as punishment. He continued to be a reserve in the Panthers? loss to Evansville.
The sum total of his output in those three games was 12 points and seven assists while averaging just 17 minutes of playing time.
?Not being in the starting lineup and being a little unsure of what we?re doing there for two games, that obviously impacts it,? Jacobson said. ?And prior to that, it had been a little bit hit-and-miss in terms of how well he played. It?s my job as the head coach to make sure that he?s confident. ... He?s a good player, and we need him.?
Jacobson showed his confidence in Mitchell by playing him all 20 minutes in the first half against Bradley, despite a Panther lead that quickly ballooned to 20 points.
?I gave him a few looks like, ?Am I coming out?? And then he just kept me in there. So I just sucked it up and kept playing,? Mitchell said.
As for his surprisingly slow start to Valley play, Mitchell said:
?It just seemed like after every game it was one thing after another, something bad happening so I wasn?t able to play to my full potential, or me missing the bus because I got the time?s mixed up. I just feel like for me, my advantage is in transition and I think we got away from that the past few games.?
Creighton coach Greg McDermott is concerned about what a healthy and confident Mitchell can do.
?When he?s playing well, I think the team functions at a much different level,? he said. ?It?s always a challenge to try to keep him in front of you and to take away his ability to get to the basket, while at the same time staying close enough to some of their shooters that they aren?t shooting those 3-point shots in rhythm.?
So when the sophomore slumped for four games, the Panthers bogged down as well. They?re off to a 1-3 start in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Mitchell?s re-emergence as a premier playmaker in Saturday?s rout of Bradley couldn?t have come at a better time. He had 15 points and a career-high seven assists in 37 sterling minutes of play.
His chance at an encore comes at 7 p.m. today at No. 12 Creighton (16-1, 5-0 Valley).
?He does all the little things to get our team going, really get that pace that coach (Ben Jacobson) wants,? said Marc Sonnen, the prime beneficiary of Mitchell?s excellence Saturday with 21 points.
The little things were what kept Mitchell out of the starting lineup in the previous two games for Northern Iowa (9-8, 2-3). First, he came down with a flu bug before a home loss to Indiana State. The next game was at Illinois State, but Mitchell missed the bus to the shootaround and was benched as punishment. He continued to be a reserve in the Panthers? loss to Evansville.
The sum total of his output in those three games was 12 points and seven assists while averaging just 17 minutes of playing time.
?Not being in the starting lineup and being a little unsure of what we?re doing there for two games, that obviously impacts it,? Jacobson said. ?And prior to that, it had been a little bit hit-and-miss in terms of how well he played. It?s my job as the head coach to make sure that he?s confident. ... He?s a good player, and we need him.?
Jacobson showed his confidence in Mitchell by playing him all 20 minutes in the first half against Bradley, despite a Panther lead that quickly ballooned to 20 points.
?I gave him a few looks like, ?Am I coming out?? And then he just kept me in there. So I just sucked it up and kept playing,? Mitchell said.
As for his surprisingly slow start to Valley play, Mitchell said:
?It just seemed like after every game it was one thing after another, something bad happening so I wasn?t able to play to my full potential, or me missing the bus because I got the time?s mixed up. I just feel like for me, my advantage is in transition and I think we got away from that the past few games.?
Creighton coach Greg McDermott is concerned about what a healthy and confident Mitchell can do.
?When he?s playing well, I think the team functions at a much different level,? he said. ?It?s always a challenge to try to keep him in front of you and to take away his ability to get to the basket, while at the same time staying close enough to some of their shooters that they aren?t shooting those 3-point shots in rhythm.?
