BTH Analysis: Neighbour gets the better of Mitchell head to head again

Tony Mitchell will likely go on to have a better professional career. Let’s rephrase that. He’s probably going to go on to get drafted and will get a real shot to be a NBA player. But head-to-head, there’s not a lot of difference between Mitchell and UALR’s Will Neighbour.

Well, there is one difference, at least this season. North Texas plays about the same with Mitchell in the game or on the bench. UALR picks it up when Neighbour is on the court.

That was the case again in their second head-to-head meeting of the season, which UALR won 62-57 on Saturday at The Super Pit in Denton, Texas.

With Neighbour in the game, UALR outscored North Texas 53-41. With Neighbour on the bench, UALR was outscored 16-9. With Mitchell in the game, UALR outscored North Texas 43-40. With Mitchell on the bench, UALR outscored North Texas 19-17. Not much difference.

Mitchell had 13 points and 6 rebounds to Neighbour's 11 points and 6 rebounds. Again, not much difference.

Neighbour’s +12 was the top mark for any UALR player on Saturday. The rest of the top five included:

• Josh Hagins +8 (51-43)
• Leroy Isler +5 (34-29)
• Kemy Osse +5 (29-24)
• James White +4 (30-26)

Osse continues to lead UALR at +0.14 per minutes played. He’s also a team best +36 in Sun Belt Conference games and +16 in the past five games played.

Neighbour and Hagins are tied at +2.7 per games played. Neighbour leads UALR at +63 for the season.