“Stealing rebounds,” Parker Ernsthausen joked under his breath, drawing a laugh from Mitchell.
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Mitchell’s previous career high of 12 rebounds came Jan. 14 at Milwaukee, when he also tied his career high with 21 points. He topped that scoring mark Friday night against Detroit by scoring 22. Then Sunday he dominated everyone on the glass as his 15 rebounds were more than twice as many as any other player in the game.
“There’s some guys you’d think would be unbelievable rebounders and they’re not because they just don’t have a great for it, but Justin has a great feel for where the ball is going,” WSU coach Scott Nagy said.
Mitchell’s instincts and athleticism are a big reason why he leads the team with an average of 7.9 rebounds per game.
“You just can’t teach those things,” Nagy said. “There’s two things. He has a good feel for where it’s going, and he gets it at the height of where it’s coming off there. He’s a tremendous athlete. We’re very fortunate to have a point guard that size even though he’s not your classical point guard. Very few teams in the country have their leading rebounder as their point guard.”
Mitchell’s performance Sunday helped WSU dominate Oakland on the boards, 44 to 30.
“When you outrebound somebody by 14, you’re almost always going to win because it just shows a level of effort,” Nagy said. “The rebounding stat for us and the programs we’ve had has always been a very important stat.”
Two technicals
Senior guard Mark Alstork and Oakland Stevie Clark where whistled for a double technical foul Sunday when the two got into a jawing match in the second half.
Alstork also was a part of a double technical Friday with Detroit’s Cole Long.
“Every game people are going to talk to me, coaches and everybody are going to try to get in my head,” Alstork said. “I’ve got to do a better job of adjusting and learning how I can not let it get in my head.”
Nagy said he wasn’t happy about the technical, but he’s also not overly bothered by them.
“The things that sometimes frustrate me about Mark are also what make him a good player,” Nagy said. “Yeah, I don’t want him doing that, but I’m not going to go bananas and try to prove a point and be prideful because I do understand that some of his hard-headedness makes him a good player, too.
“With every player and their personalities, you have to be able to absorb some of the bad with the good,” he added. “He’s obviously a very good player for us when emotionally he can stay consistent. And I thought for the most part he did today. He was under control. He just got in a little bit of a talking match with that kid. I’m not going to freak about it.”
Foul fest
Officials called 22 fouls in the first half and picked up the pace in the second half as both teams were in the bonus with 14:25 left in the game.
“It was kind of clunky game that way, a lot of fouls on both teams,” Nagy said. “I thought we were more physical inside. We’re not a real physical team as it is. We just don’t have the weight. But I thought that our guys really played hard and were physical and we did get in some foul trouble.
“When we got to the 10-foul mark which was early, then we quit fouling them,” Nagy added. “We did a nice job of keeping them off the free throw line, because that was the only way they were going to work back into the game, getting to the free throw line.”
WSU made 25 of 30 free throws, while Oakland was 16 of 22.
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