COLUMBUS – Kelsey Mitchell is her own harshest critic on the basketball floor. Kelsey Mitchell is 127 points away from 1,000 entering her sophomore year at Ohio State. (Photo: Jamie Sabau) Case in point: Mitchell was the first freshman to lead the nation in scoring at 24.9 points per game last season at Ohio State. But, she was more concerned about wins and losses. That mentality has stayed consistent going back to her storied career at Princeton High School. “She is always like that,” said Lakota East girls’ basketball coach Jill Phillips, who coached Mitchell at Princeton. “That’s what makes her so fun to be around. She acts like she is not the best player on the court when in fact she is.” So it’s no wonder the 2014 Ohio Ms. Basketball recipient carefully analyzed what she needed to do to improve for a Buckeyes’ team that reached the Big Ten final and lost to North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. “For her to impact us the way she did in Year One was really remarkable,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said Thursday afternoon. Mitchell, a 5-foot-8 guard, scored a school and Big Ten single-season record 873 points her freshman season. She made an NCAA single-season record 127 three-pointers and set an NCAA single-season record with a three-pointer in 35 consecutive games. Kelsey Mitchell was named the Big Ten preseason player of the year this month. (Photo: Ohio State athletics) Her adjustment to the pace, physicality, rules and more complex defenses last season was something McGuff isn’t sure he’s ever seen in his coaching career. “When we signed her I knew she was a special talent,” McGuff said. …
Continue Reading: Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell discusses the upcoming season for the Buckeyes
