Kentucky led by as many as 16 points with 14:33 to go against Missouri in the SEC Tournament, only for the Tigers to storm back and inexplicably push ahead 70-69 with 2:34 to go. That came on a tough turnaround nine-footer by Mark Mitchell for his 13th bucket of the day and 32 points overall, the senior forward single-handedly taking the game over and putting the Wildcats on upset alert in Nashville.
UK found a way to respond and pull off the too-close-for-comfort 78-72 victory, no thanks to Mitchell’s late heroics, continuing his trend as a thorn in Mark Pope’s side for two seasons in Lexington. Before that, it was a 21-point, four-assist effort in a 73-68 upset win inside Rupp Arena to begin the SEC home schedule on January 7. The year before, he went for 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists against the Wildcats in the regular season finale.
At the time of that 32-point explosion in Nashville, Pope thought he had seen the last of Mitchell — thankfully.
“Mitchell, credit him, what an unbelievable career he’s had,” he said at the podium, relieved. “He’ll have a great run in the NCAA Tournament. Tried to put the whole team on his back to try to make it work.”
Five months later, Mitchell has received a fifth season of eligibility and committed to Kentucky out of the transfer portal, giving the Wildcats a two-time All-SEC talent to work with alongside the likes of Malachi Moreno, Milan Momcilovic, Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins to form one of the most dangerous starting fives in college basketball.
Going back and rewatching that SEC Tournament matchup gives a sense of just how special this addition is for UK — with a little bit of irony on SEC Network following his first basket of a baker’s dozen.
“Such a gifted guy. He moves like a pro,” Jimmy Dykes said on the broadcast. “I don’t know if he’s going to be drafted, but he’s going to find his way onto somebody’s team, though.”
Little did anybody know, that team would be Pope’s in Lexington.
See it all for yourself below:
Thank goodness he’s on our bench now.