Tre Mitchell's hard work prompts speedy recovery

This wasn’t the start that Tre Mitchell was expecting.

A foot injury sidelined the Texas transfer for the duration of pre-season, but a speedy recovery has the forward and his team excited for what’s to come.

“Preseason has been a journey to say the least. Obviously we had a little injury come out of left field so I just had to do the things day by day,” said Mitchell, the former Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year.

Mitchell, one of the many additions to West Virginia’s roster through the transfer portal, had taken a leave of absence mid-season for personal reasons, as a Longhorn. He would never return to the court for the team and entered the portal two months later, ultimately deciding to stay in the Big 12 as a Mountaineer.

“I took a different approach,” said Mitchell. “I took a little bit of time to step back and put things into perspective for myself and I think I've done nothing but grow since then and kind of re-realized who I was as a player and the potential that is untapped within myself. I’m just gonna really be working and see how much I can pull out of myself.”

Now, due to him having been “very, very diligent with his rehab”, as noticed by head coach Bob Huggins, Mitchell has made a speedy recovery and was able to play for the season opener, in which he scored 13 points in just as many minutes.

“I spent a lot of time with Shaun Brown, he did an excellent job of keeping me in decent shape as much as he could. I couldn’t do much with the lower body. I was in there everyday with the upper body trying to get in shape that way. As far as me coming back, it was kind of like a game time thing. We’ve taken things day by day because with the injury we don’t really know how quickly it’ll heal,” said Mitchell.

The once Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year had only competed in one full practice with the team in pre-season, the day before opening night against Mount Saint Marys. The lack of time had no negative effect on cohesion with the squad however, and fellow transfer Emmitt Matthews raved about his teammate’s abilities.

“He’s a hooper. He’s not a regular basketball player, this is a hooper. Me personally, I think you can throw him anywhere on the floor. I have yet to see somebody with a good back-to-the-basket game at 6 ‘8’’ like his. He can shoot the ball as you saw today. He was really all over the place on offense. Wherever you put him he’ll just do his job. Honestly, it's just like having another version of myself,” said Matthews. “We can do a lot of different things with him on the floor so I think just taking it one day at a time and keeping him in the loop, keeping him game ready, keeping him in game shape, that's gonna be a start.”

Mitchell expects this growth to continue as the season progresses.

“Game shape can really only be done in a game. You can ask probably any hooper, they'll probably tell you the same, regardless of what you do off the court… it’s different paces, different spurts, different sprints. I think it’ll just come with time, I’m not far though,” said Mitchell.

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