Winning always has been a big part of Tiffany Mitchell’s life

THE PLAN SET OUT for Tiffany Mitchell, the shining light of the South Carolina women’s basketball team, prior to every game is simple. It will be the same one Dawn Staley and her staff relay to the two-time reigning SEC Player of the Year when the Gamecocks open play Friday night in the NCAA tournament.

“This is how we can win the game,” Staley says. “You’ve got to do this, this and this.” Then, according to Staley, Mitchell will carry out assignments to near perfection.

Staley’s message plays to Mitchell’s competitive fire, a burning desire to win that can be matched only by her coach. In fact, Staley sees a lot of herself in Mitchell.

“We’re cut from the same cloth when it comes to wanting to be the best,” Staley says. “We would turn any stone to make sure we’re not missing anything.”

That thirst to be the best has made Mitchell one of the nation’s elite players. Since arriving at USC three seasons ago, Mitchell has elevated her offensive game from being limited to drives to the basket to now being a threat to score off the dribble, with a mid-range shot and from 3-point range.

On the defensive end of the court, Mitchell gets the every-game assignment of matching up against the opponent’s top scorer. She can guard the ball on the dribble, fend her way through screens and deny passing lanes.

Mitchell possesses a rare ability to play at an extremely high level on both ends of the floor. She says those skills were developed at an early age playing one-on-one pickup games against her bigger, stronger, older brother, Tory.

“I was the only girl in my family who actually played sports,” Mitchell says. “So, most of the time, the boys I played against were bigger and stronger than me. I always lost, and I hated to lose. ... One simple one-on-one (game) when my brother would beat me, and I’d go in the house and cry to Mom. It just started then.”

Once Mitchell began playing against girls at age 12, she started to experience winning, a habit that has not stopped since. Her summer AAU teams in Charlotte annually were the best in North Carolina. She played on state championship clubs at Providence Day School her final three seasons of high school.

Her teams at USC have won 25, 29 and 30 games with a pair of SEC regular-season titles, one league tournament crown and a quest for a national title in the works.

“Winning has always been a big part of my life,” Mitchell says. “I’ve never been a great loser. I hate losing. I probably hate losing more than I like winning. Losing has never been part of my life.”

She also sought out the perfect role model, a member of the Charlotte Sting’s WNBA team at the time by the name of Dawn Staley. Mitchell wrote a biography of Staley for her third-grade class. She requested and received a Staley jersey for her 13th birthday.

So, when Mitchell arrived at USC, she was prepared to outwork everyone on the floor as a way to improve her skill set in every aspect of the game. She was learning from the master.

As a freshman, Mitchell admits to a fear of shooting. She says she averaged about three charges a game just by lowering her shoulder and heading to the basket. When opponents began backing off her, Mitchell adjusted and worked tirelessly on her shot during the offseason before her sophomore year.

“I took it personal how people never played me when I got the ball on the wing,” says Mitchell, whose shooting percentage has improved from .379 to .493 to .505 the past three seasons. Her successful 3-point field goals increased from 22 to 40 to 52.

On defense as a freshman, Mitchell watched as senior Ieasia Walker quarterbacked the club. With Walker gone, Staley says Mitchell voluntarily took the leadership role of the team’s defense.

The result is a total package of a player, one that opposing teams have a difficult time preparing for because of her versatility. Cedric Baker’s Savannah State club got a first-hand look at Mitchell early this season and have watched extended videotape of her in preparation for Friday night’s NCAA tournament opener.

When asked Thursday, Baker gave a scouting report on Mitchell, mentioning her tremendous athleticism and conditioning, her ability to score in many manners, and her “lockdown” skills as a defender. Then he got to the heart of the matter concerning Mitchell.

“At this point of the season, all of these Division I players have a great skill set,” Baker said. “But in terms of their work ethic, she’s outworked a lot of young ladies on a national level.”

To that end, Mitchell gives an assist to her older brother and her college coach.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Winning always has been a big part of Tiffany Mitchell’s life."