Forward Matthews to transfer back to West Virginia
The West Virginia basketball program is adding a familiar face to the roster with the commitment of Washington transfer forward Emmitt Matthews.
Matthews, 6-foot-7, 215-pounds, spent three seasons with the Mountaineers before transferring to the Huskies this past year. He appeared in a total of 92 games averaging 6.4 points and 3.5 rebounds.
The Rivals.com four-star prospect out of high school scored a career high 28 points during his freshman season and averaged 7.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in his final season with the program.
The Tacoma, Washington native originally committed to Connecticut out of high school prior to casting his lot with West Virginia after a coaching change occurred with the Huskies.
He improved every year during his three-year tenure with the Big 12 Conference program prior to transferring to back to his native Washington where he had his most productive season to date.
Matthews started all 31 games for the Huskies finishing second on the team in scoring at 11.7 points per contest while also grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game and shooting a career best 43-percent from the field.
The move back to his home state was one that gave Matthews the opportunity to play in front of family and friends, but now will close things out where it all began across the country in Morgantown. Matthews entered the transfer portal in late April and things were set in motion from there.
Matthews already had a built-in connection with the coaching staff, namely head coach Bob Huggins, after playing for him for three full seasons and already has lived on campus. That along with the need for a wing player on the roster made this seemingly unlikely fit come to fruition.
Matthews is a skilled wing that can score the basketball at multiple levels as well as rebound. But after watching him for three seasons, that isn’t something that West Virginia fans don’t already know.
The versatile forward will have one season of eligibility remaining and becomes the eighth commitment for the Mountaineers in the efforts to rebuild the 2022-23 roster.
Matthews is the third overall pledge for West Virginia from the transfer ranks joining South Carolina guard Erik Stevenson and Iowa point guard Joe Toussaint.
WVSports.com will have more on Matthews in the near future.
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