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Eric Musselman details what makes Makhel Mitchell effective as a shot-blocker

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•02/03/23
Mahkel Mitchell, Arkansas Razorbacks forward
Arkansas forward Makhel Mitchell blocks a shot in a game on Nov. 21, 2022. (Darryl Oumi / Getty Images)

Arkansas bounced back from a weekend loss to Baylor with an 81-70 win over Texas A&M on Tuesday night, using a school-record-tying performance from Makhel Mitchell as a shot-blocker to do so.

The Razorbacks recorded 13 blocks in the contest, with Mitchell pitching in a school-record-tying seven blocks in the contest.

Mitchell’s career high is eight, which he recorded in a game last year for Rhode Island, but it matches the Arkansas school record that is shared by Daniel Gafford, Hunter Mickelson, Delvon Johnson, Steven Hill and Nick Davis.

“Great anticipation. I think he gets off the floor way better than maybe someone his size and weight,” coach Eric Musselman said of the historic performance. “He does get off the floor quickly. He anticipates. Long arms. He takes pride in blocking shots. And I thought he had some great verticality, too, maybe where he wasn’t credited with a blocked shot but he altered some shots.”

Mitchell turned in a monster all-around performance, finishing with 13 rebounds, nine points, seven blocks and a steal.

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Arkansas scouted the Mitchells using analytics

One of the things that kept Musselman from being overly shocked at Makhel Mitchell’s superb shot-blocker performance on Tuesday night was his scouting when the Mitchells entered the portal from Rhode Island.

He did his homework.

So he wasn’t overly surprised when Makhel Mitchell tallied seven blocked shots and Makhi Mitchell pitched in three more. Even against a talented Texas A&M frontcourt.

“(Julius) Marble and (Henry) Coleman are two really physical guys down low and he did a great job tonight of battling down there,” Musselman said. “Both of them, when they were in the portal, one of the things that was really important to us was looking at their analytic defensive numbers. Before they got here they were really good analytically from a defensive standpoint, and they’ve certainly carried that on here as well.”

Arkansas will return to action on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. ET tipoff at South Carolina. The game will be carried on the SEC Network.