Dennis Gates lands commitment from former Duke forward
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou men's basketball coach Dennis Gates' fourth portal addition of the offseason was a big one. On Friday, the Tiger head coach landed a commitment from former Duke starting forward Mark Mitchell.
Mitchell, a Kansas City, Kansas native, was a five-star recruit out of high school and spent two seasons with the Blue Devils. In that time, he started in all but one of the games that he appeared in, 67 out of 68.
During the 2023-24 campaign, the Mizzou commit averaged 11.6 points and six rebounds per game. However, he had a nice start at Duke as a freshman, as well. In his debut season he averaged 9.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Mitchell and the Blue Devils played their way to a 27-9 overall record in his sophomore season, including a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
The Kansas-native ranked as the No. 26 overall player in the country in high school and the No. 3 player at his position, according to the ESPN 100 class of 2022. He originally had an offer from MU out of high school, but chose Duke over the Tigers, Kansas, North Carolina and others.
The 6-foot-9 former McDonald's All-American will join Gates' three other offseason portal additions: ex-Northern Kentucky guard Marques Warrick, ex-Iowa guard Tony Perkins and ex-UT Martin forward Jacob Crews.