After Georgia Tech’s Charles Mitchell scored his first basket of Saturday afternoon just ten seconds into the game, he roared, “That was easy!”
At the moment, it did seem easy. Mitchell is one of the nation’s leading rebounders, a powerful interior player who believed he was on the verge of a big afternoon against a Carolina team that was once again missing Kennedy Meeks. Coming into the game, his ten double-doubles were the third-most in the country.
A little less than two hours later, as the Tar Heels were finishing up their 86-78 win, Mitchell was bent over at the waist, hands on his knees, the owner of five fouls and just two offensive rebounds, tied for his second-lowest offensive rebounding output of the season.