It has been a rough season so far for Duke basketball sophomore Mark Mitchell and things did not get any easier on Sunday morning when the world woke up to tweets from his father talking about his performance.
Posted at 2:31 a.m. ET on December 31, Mark Mitchell Sr. tweeted, "We as a family do not support what we’re seeing from Mark at Duke."
"How do you show up at a university and lose your identity? Both Mark and Duke need to work it out. Disturbing."
It came as a major surprise considering Mark Mitchell's father had not been in the public eye very often, if at all, over the last two seasons and it felt even more strange considering a parent was not only calling out Jon Scheyer and the coaching staff, but firmly putting the blame on his son too.
We as a family do not support what we’re seeing from Mark at Duke. How do you show up at a university and lose your identity? Both Mark and Duke need to work it out. Disturbing
— Mark mitchell Sr kansas@IGWP (@mitchell_kansas) December 31, 2023
Mitchell had been playing much better for Duke leading into its game against Syracuse after he sat a majority of the second half in the Blue Devils' loss to Arkansas and did not start agianst Georgia Tech.
Duke won four consecutive games over that time period and while the 3-point shooting had still been very problematic, he was thriving defensively, rebounding, and drawing fouls around the basket.
However, it all came together against the Orange on Tuesday night when the sophomore went for 21 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks on 7-for-10 shooting from the field and 7-for-9 at the free throw line in the Blue Devil win.
Mitchell had 18 points in the first half, which Duke desperately needed due to multiple players battling foul trouble.
"Nah, that ain’t got nothing to do with me, man. I’m good. I love Duke and I’m grateful," Mitchell told Rivals after the game.
Mark Mitchell is now averaging 12.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game on 48.5-percent shooting from the field yet an ugly 4.5-percent from 3-point range (1-of-22). He shot 35.2-percent from beyond the arc as a freshman.
Excluding his 3-point attempts, Mitchell is shooting 61-percent on 2-point field goals this season.
No. 14 Duke (10-3, 1-1 ACC) will look to make it six consecutive victories on Saturday night (6:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network) in South Bend against Notre Dame (6-8, 1-2 ACC).