Stevie Mitchell: A Warrior’s Legacy at Marquette

The season is over, Stevie Mitchell will never suit up for Marquette again, and yet he’s still continuing to wow me.

Over the weekend, Stevie posted an image on his Instagram with his brother pushing him in a wheelchair outside of a medical facility and the caption “Only way is forward now” and a laughing emoji.

It appeared he had just had some sort of medical procedure, and sure enough, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Ben Steele confirmed that Stevie had undergone hip surgery, and would be in recovery for the next 6 months.

Marquette guard Stevie Mitchell underwent hip surgery after his senior season.

He said the recovery will be about six months. #mubb

— Ben Steele (@BenSteeleMJS) April 26, 2025

I have no idea when this injury happened, how long he played with it, or how much it hampered him, but what I do know is that Stevie Mitchell sacrificed everything he had for Marquette.

Steele reported in December that Shaka Smart and the staff were very cautious with Stevie’s practice minutes all season, as he was dealing with painful tendinitis in both of his Achilles.

“The biggest way in which MU is making sure Mitchell plays in games is by keeping him out of most practices. Or at least the full-contact, no-holds-barred segments in practices in which Mitchell might find himself flying into stationary bikes.”

So this injury wasn’t even the primary injury holding him back in December. Or the shoulder injuries that he carried at the end of last season and this one as well.

“Because he plays like a bowling ball, sometimes he is going to be involved in collisions. But he’s one of the toughest guys I’ve ever been around.” – Shaka Smart in March 2024.

“I’ve never seen someone who goes so hard, so consistently.” – Shaka in December 2024.

I’ve gone on the record multiple times saying that Stevie was much more than a glue guy for Marquette this season, but I didn’t realize he was being held together with glue and tape to be able to play.

And now any future pro prospects will be delayed as he recovers from hip surgery. As we watch players hold out for more money and skip bowl games (in football) to preserve draft stock, I will never take for granted Stevie’s character and toughness.

That’s not to say the rest of the team wasn’t playing with injuries, in fact it was much more severe than even I had heard. Chase Ross needed surgery on his left thumb on an injury he played with since late January. Kam Jones was playing with a left wrist injury that forced him to adjust his mechanics since early January. Ben Gold suffered a broken finger in February. None of them missed a game.

But for Stevie, a player that put his body on the line as much as I’ve ever seen from a player, he sacrificed everything for the blue and gold.

So I wanted to thank him once more for an incredible 4 years. He left a warrior’s legacy that will never be forgotten.

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