Missouri cruised to a 78-59 victory over South Carolina, thanks in part to a dominant performance from forward Mark Mitchell. He finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists on his way to a third double-double on the season.
"I just took what the defense was giving me," Mitchell said after the game. "I saw the doubles, I saw a lot of different coverages, but it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. So I'm just taking it game after game with the coverage I see, the way they play me and seeing how I can impact the game."
While Mitchell's greatness has put the Tigers is a nice position to chase a tournament spot, one concerning flaw has emerged throughout this season. Mitchell now leads the Tigers in scoring, rebounds, and assists, and has made it blatantly clear that Mizzou lacks steady options behind him.
Mitchell now leads the team in almost too many statistical categories
At 17.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, Mitchell is the leader in the clubhouse for every statistic. And although its nice to have such an elite player on the roster, it also highlights a potential issue for the Tigers.
Of course Jayden Stone has come on strong since returning from injury, and Jacob Crews and T.O. Barrett have provided sparks on occasion, but it's very clear that the Tigers win and lose with Mitchell. He does play the most minutes, so in some ways it makes sense he leads Missouri in some statistical categories. But now that he leads in most major stats, Dennis Gates and company make start look at how to get some other guys involved to avoid a one-dimensional team.
Again, in no form or fashion is it bad to have a Mark Mitchell on the roster, but at some point, teams are going to double more and more until Mizzou finds a way to be productive without him.