Carlos Mitchell, junior guard for the IUS men’s basketball team, made his first start at the IUS Homecoming game against Berea his freshman year.

Mitchell scored 15 points in his debut as a starter.  He  has continued to average double digit scoring in each of the last two years and was named a captain this season.

Mitchell got his start in basketball by playing in a youth league in fourth grade.  

Mitchell was forced to stop  because his single mother, Patricia Mitchell, who was working two jobs and raising five kids, couldn’t find Carlos a ride to practice and games.

In eighth grade Mitchell found out that his uncle would be able to provide him transportation from basketball, but Mitchell, who had wanted to play since he was forced to stop four years earlier, wasn’t sure if he should.

Mitchell’s younger sisters were putting on a play in the garage and left a light on earlier that day and caused an electrical fire that burned down the Mitchell’s house.   All of the family’s belongings were destroyed.

“The fire really made me question whether or not to play basketball that year,” Mitchell said.  “But the coach, Jim Pass, said he saw great potential in me, something I couldn’t see, and convinced me to play.”

The Carrithers Middle School eighth grade basketball team, with Mitchell on the squad, went undefeated that season and won their district.

“That’s when I fell in love with the game again,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also played AAU basketball that year with Craig Bryant, junior guard for the Grenadiers.

“Carlos has always played really hard,” Bryant said.  “He takes a lot of pride in himself and his play. We developed a lot of chemistry over those years playing together in middle and high school.”

Mitchell continued to play basketball through high school and he tried his hand at football, soccer and track at Fern Creek. His junior and senior seasons of track, Mitchell advanced to the state meet and that summer he went to Australia to represent America in the Junior Olympics. Mitchell received a bronze metal in the 200 meters.

“I didn’t even know I was good at that event,” Mitchell said.

Despite receiving offers to run track for other universities, Carlos continued to focus on basketball.

After his senior season at Fern Creek High School Mitchell had a few area schools interested in having him play basketball for them.  

IU Southeast was not one of them until Stan Whitaker, a professor at IU Southeast, watched Mitchell play at Fern Creek and asked him if he’d ever thought about IU Southeast.

“Stan told me about IUS and that they were having an open gym that night,”  Mitchell said. “At the time I was talking to Spalding University and was supposed to go to their open gym, but I skipped it and went to the IUS open gym instead.”

Mitchell decided to attend IU Southeast and is currently pursuing a degree in communications.

“I hope to play basketball overseas after I finish school,” Mitchell said.  “I’d also like to get a job in broadcasting,”

“All I know is that I’m going to get my degree,” Mitchell said.

By HUNTER EMBRY
Staff Writer
ahembry@ius.edu