Mitchell making moves at SIU

Playing smart basketball takes on a different meaning when Nate Mitchell steps on the court.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 210 pound junior forward and Carrier Mills native was the valedictorian of his high school class, and the engineering major uses what he learns in the classroom and applies it to the hardwood.

“I see where the other players are and see what I need to do to get an angle when a guy is coming off a screen to get them open in the best way,” Mitchell explained.

Though the days of being a team’s leading scorer are behind him, Mitchell uses his wits and work ethic to log minutes for the Southern Illinois University men’s basketball team. Mitchell is the second player from Carrier Mills to make the jump to Southern Illinois, following Erik Griffin, who played with SIU head coach Chris Lowery at Southern.

Lowery said Mitchell brings a lot of energy to the court and when he plays, it rubs off on the team.

“He deserves to play when he works hard and when he’s in he doesn’t hurt us. He does all the little things and knows what to do,” Lowery said. “He understands what we need from him whatever it is whenever we put him in the game. For him it’s not about when he plays or how much he plays, but he always makes the most of it.”

Saluki fans can add Mitchell to the latest in a line of hard-nosed players that have made their way down Illinois Route 13 from Southeastern Illinois College. Like LaMar Owen, Kyle Smithpeters and Tyrone Green before him, Mitchell has climbed the ranks to play at SIU.

SIC head coach Todd Franklin said he enjoyed coaching Mitchell because he is a guy who “gets it” in regard to what it takes to win basketball games. More than that, Franklin said Mitchell is the kind of person you would want your children to aspire to be.

“I'm not giving you a coaches line when I tell you it'll be hard to find as good a guy as him,” Franklin said.

Mitchell has always been more than a basketball player. The frontcourt reserve was on the Dean’s List at Southeastern Illinois for his academic skills while he refined his skills on the basketball court at the same time. As a junior at Carrier Mills, Mitchell played in another reserve role in the school’s production of “The King And I” along with his brother, Jeremiah.

Carrier Mills head coach Mark Motsinger said he knew that Mitchell would turn into a solid collegiate basketball player because of the many facets of his game.

“A lot of time you’ll have high school kids that average 30 points per game and those kids never end up playing college basketball anywhere because they’re just scorers,” Motsigner said. “Nate was a scorer but in reality, he was a role player. You can just tell that he had the talents of rebounding, defensive talents and knowledge of the game to where he was actually going to make a good college basketball player.”

Mitchell was able to refine his game under Erik Griffin’s AAU team in Marion. Griffin, who proudly says “I’ve known Nate before he was good at basketball,” said Mitchell’s game has grown since he was a young gym rat who was always looking to round out his skills.

“For a kid to average 20 points per game and be a go-to player in high school, to not have an ego at a junior college and knowing you’ll be guarding someone’s best player every night and not be looked to score, then go to a D-I program knowing your minutes will be scarce and to work to the point where you’re getting minutes, I think it describes the kind of person he is,” Griffin said.

If Mitchell has proven anything on his journey from Carrier Mills to Carbondale, is that hard work does pay off if focus in maintained.

“If you have a goal, keep striving for it no matter what they tell you. I had people discouraging me, but you just have to keep your goals high and strive for them no matter what,” Mitchell said.