Stevie Mitchell’s impact at Marquette basketball goes beyond the court

After a game this season, Marquette men's basketball senior Stevie Mitchell walked around the court giving high fives to fans. Amid the excitement, a young girl ran up to Mitchell with her friends, eager to tell him they played basketball and tried to emulate his intensity and energy.

"Hearing stuff like that really makes you realize how much bigger (basketball) is, bigger than any outcome or any stat result," he said, "and things like that are what I'm most grateful for through getting the opportunity to be on this stage."

For Mitchell, who is preparing to compete in his fourth March Madness tournament this week, basketball is a powerful tool to inspire, lead and create lasting impacts on and off the hardwood.

Known as the Golden Eagles' "glue guy," Mitchell is celebrated for his relentless energy and defensive prowess, positioning him as a semifinalist for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year.

"I don't really take pride in points," said Mitchell, who averaged a career-high 2.3 steals per game this regular season. "There's so many other things that I bring to the game. I just take pride in winning."

Marquette head coach Shaka Smart consistently praises Mitchell's impact. 

"I've never seen someone who goes so hard, so consistently," said Smart, who learned this about Mitchell as a freshman. Smart specifically called out Mitchell's third career game.

"He played the last 10 minutes of that game and didn't come out just because he was being Stevie," Smart reflected on the 2021 game against Illinois, which Marquette won 67-66. "He was getting his hand on the basketball. He was defending. He was flying around. He was playing with incredible spirit and energy, so we couldn't sub him out. That was his freshman year when he didn't really know what he was doing yet." 

This youthful energy was true on the court and, if you asked Mitchell, off of it as well. Reflecting on his four years at Marquette, Mitchell succinctly stated, "I came here as a boy, and now I feel like a man." 

Mitchell continued: "Our coaches put a lot of emphasis on helping us grow as people and handle our emotions, be able to respond from adversity and be able to use it to get even better. They teach us how to interact with people, how to interact with positivity, how to interact with negativity. I feel like I just became more mature in my time here." 

His growth hasn't come only on the court. Academically, Mitchell has excelled as a double major in finance and information systems, earning recognition as a three-time Big East Conference All-Academic Team member and the 2025 Big East Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Balancing rigorous coursework and a demanding athletics schedule, Mitchell embodies the essence of a student-athlete.

Through this maturation process, Mitchell's perspective on his platform as a high-level college basketball player evolved. It's led him to embrace the opportunity to give back and help others, including basketball players of all levels. 

Last summer, Mitchell hosted a free youth basketball camp at his high school in Pennsylvania. Off the court, he said annual opportunities to volunteer with the Salvation Army have been a personal highlight.  

"To see how grateful they are for us, it really puts life into perspective. They don't care how the game went," he said. "The kids who look up to us, they obviously want us to win, but they don't really care how the game goes, they just see inspiration in us. And as long as we can live up to that night in and night out, we'll be proud of whatever we do, whatever outcome may be, because it's so much bigger than basketball. 

"The more time we spend in the community, the more we realize that and the more we're just able to help give back and just make the place around us a better place. I think that's the greatest thing you can do as a basketball player, or anybody really, is just make the world around you a better place."

This season, Mitchell's served in a role to leave college basketball in a better place through the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Student-Athlete Engagement Group, representing the Big East. The group, launched in 2023, includes one representative from each Division I conference to help ensure that players have a seat at the table in discussions that impact their futures.

"I'm grateful to even be a part of it," Mitchell said. "I've been enjoying the meetings, getting to speak my mind, ask questions, answer questions and really feel like we're making an impact on college basketball and just being able to be a voice for student-athletes." 

Mitchell's approach to name, image and likeness opportunities reflects his dedication to a bigger purpose. He led an initiative at Marquette in which scholarship players pooled NIL funds to financially support their walk-on teammates.

"It just shows how much they care about us and how much they love us," said teammate Cam Brown, a walk-on.

Mitchell also partnered with Milwaukee nonprofit Stryv365, whose mission is to equip youth with a resilient mindset through trauma-informed programming in education, athletics and activities. The deal was facilitated by his brother, Kyran, a former Division III basketball player at Washington and Jefferson who is now a law school student at Marquette. 

"I thought it was a really great idea and a really purposeful thing too because there are a lot of kids in a lot of areas that need a lot of help, but when we're kids, you don't really know what you need," Mitchell said. "So you can integrate and incorporate things they love with helping them learn life skills and things that they're going to need at that moment in their life. I think it is a great idea and really a great way to give back and just make the world a better place for everybody."