When a younger Tony Mitchell wanted to learn new dunks, he'd just plant himself in front of a video game console.
The high-flying Alabama sophomore would try to master those moves, and any others he could think of, by moving his basketball goal next to the family's backyard trampoline and leaping and spinning away.
''He'd drag it over there and we'd look out there and he'd about give his momma a heart attack,'' Tony Mitchell Sr. recalled. ''He'd be doing all kinds of stuff.''
The younger Mitchell is still doing all kinds of stuff on the court, including those explosive dunks. He has been one of the Southeastern Conference's hottest players in the last few weeks and helped the Crimson Tide (19-8, 11-2) to its best league start since the 1986-87 season.
Mitchell finally cooled off when he managed just eight points in Wednesday night's 51-49 survival win over Auburn. He had scored 20-plus points in five of his previous six games and was coming off one of the best performances of his career.
Mitchell had a career-high 27 points and nine rebounds in a win over Arkansas that helped land him SEC player of the week honors for the first time. His alley-oop, one of three Mitchell dunks in the game, finished a 13-2 run that helped put the game away.
''I just try to play as hard as I can,'' Mitchell said. ''I try to do everything I can to get my team the win.''
Mitchell only made one field goal against Auburn, but it was a tip-in off an Andrew Steele miss that gave Alabama a 47-45 lead with 1:38 left. It also joined his four-point effort against Southeastern Louisiana as the only times this season when he failed to score in double digits.
And when the Tide was looking for a game-winning basket, the ball still went to Mitchell. He drove the lane and missed, but fellow forward JaMychal Green tapped it back in with .3 seconds left for the win.
''I thought the play was a great move by Tony to drive the basketball,'' Alabama coach Anthony Grant said.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pounder is averaging 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds, both second on the team behind Green while leading the way with 50 dunks. He ranks among the SEC's Top 10 in those categories, along with field goal percentage (fourth, 54.0), steals (third, 1.7 per game) and offensive rebounds (eighth, 2.6 per game).
''The thing we've always said about Tony is he's got the ability to make plays,'' Grant said. ''That's what he's doing, taking advantage of the opportunities that are there, getting out in transition, getting more and more comfortable with what he can do on the court and how he can impact the game.''
His abilities to finish fast-breaks and snare offensive boards, along with the occasional 3-pointer, have made Mitchell a headache for opposing coaches.
''The problem with Tony Mitchell is he's so good with broken-floor situations, whether it's fastbreaks, steals, offensive rebounds,'' Arkansas' John Pelphrey said. ''It's really, really hard to develop game plans for broken-floor situations like that.
''He's making plays. He's playing as well or better than anybody.''
Auburn's Tony Barbee talked about the difficulties Mitchell poses before the game.
''Their team feeds off a lot of what he does with his energy level,'' Barbee said. ''He's a high-energy guy. He's a difficult matchup because he can go inside and out. He runs the floor like a gazelle and he finishes way above the rim. He's shooting the ball so well from outside now too. He presents so many different matchup problems.''
But it's Mitchell's dunks that have sent Alabama fans into a frenzy so many times this season.
Like the big one against Arkansas, when he caught a pass from Trevor Releford with his right hand as he elevated at the end of a fast break for the crowd-pleasing slam.
''I'm kind of used to it now,'' Mitchell said of the crowd's noisy reactions. ''I'm just trying to get our fans into it and to get our players a little excited too. It gives everybody a boost to see me dunk or JaMychal dunk or to see anybody on our team do something special.''
He and Green both have a favorite Mitchell dunk. It came against Purdue and Green says it was ''the highest I've seen him dunk.''
''He had it as his Facebook profile picture,'' Green said. ''His head was just over the rim. It was like he was still going up.''
Added Mitchell: ''It really amazed me, because in a game you really don't know what you do. I'm just doing stuff. It really is special to just watch it. I didn't know how high I was.''
He said his first dunk came as a 5-foot-8 eighth-grader. His father says he still goes ''crazy'' whenever he sees a big one in a game.
It was a glimpse through the window of his son leaping for a rebound, not a dunk, in a game with friends that convinced him those father-son contests were now a mismatch the other way.
''I looked out there and I saw him jump over a guy's head,'' the elder Mitchell said. ''I used to go out there and beat him up but when I saw him do that, I stopped going out there.
''I saw him clear his whole body, just clear it. The guy was standing straight up.''
