Mitchell could be turning back clock on defense

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Feb 10, 2009 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Wednesday night in Starkville, Miss., Tasmin Mitchell will get to relive the past a little bit against Mississippi State.

Against the Bulldogs’ perimeter-oriented offense, Mitchell will be asked to guard Ravern Johnson, State’s 3-point shooting “forward,” to use the term loosely.

Of Johnson’s 218 shot attempts this season, 121 of them have been from 3-point range. The rail-thin 6-foot-7 Johnson is more like a guard in a four-guard attack than an actual forward.

“And what’s impressive,” LSU coach Trent Johnson said, “is that he really shoots them from deep.”

So for Mitchell, guarding Johnson, State’s leading scorer at 12.4 points per game, will bring back memories of the early part of Mitchell’s career, when he was a small forward in 2006 and 2007, often with the job of chasing shooters.

“Yeah, I used to always have to chase guys around,” said Mitchell, who will have to contend with a player who is a blistering 47.9 percent shooter from long-range this year (58-for-121). “But I enjoy it. Whatever I have to do to stop a guy, I’ll do it.”

In the first meting this season with Mississippi State, an 81-57 Tigers win Jan. 21, Mitchell helped hold Johnson to 10 points on 2-for-10 shooting, 2-for-7 from 3-point range.

Those days as a small forward must seem long ago now for Mitchell, who has found a nice niche this season as a power forward.

The Denham Springs graduate is second on the team in scoring (15.6 points per game) and rebounding (6.8 a game) and is coming off a week where he was effective enough to become the second Tiger in three weeks to earn SEC Player of the Week honors.

In wins over Georgia and Alabama, Mitchell averaged 21.5 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and 2.5 steals a game. He was 18-for-29 from the floor in the two games, improving his shooting percentage to 54.5 percent for the season.

And in Sunday’s 76-62 win over Alabama, where he had 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four steals, Mitchell also had a flashback to his offensive past as a small forward.

During a 17-0 LSU run that allowed the Tigers to take control of the game in the first half, the 6-foot-7, 240-pounder hit consecutive 3-pointers, a shot that was once a big part of his game, but has fallen by the wayside a bit this year as he concentrates more on his post presence. He hit 41 3-pointers as a sophomore in 2007 (a knee injury forced him to redshirt last year). His back-to-back treys made him just 6-for-12 from long range this year.

“Playing the three (small forward) required me to shoot a lot of 3’s, but playing the four has kind of limited that,” Mitchell said. “I still have it in my repertoire. I just try to get high-percentage shots at the four. But I will shoot it (the 3-pointer). Coach (Johnson) doesn’t mind me shooting it, he has confidence in it and he knows my capabilities.