Tre Mitchell Brings Experience and Inside Play and Also Gives Coach John Calipari Many More Options

UK Athletics Photo

Two weeks ago some wondered if John Calipari would have enough scholarship players available to play in the Global Jam in Toronto in a little over two weeks and what the final 2023-24 roster was actually going to be.

Since then Calipari has signed incoming freshmen Jordan Burks and Joey Hart and also had Antonio Reeves, last year’s second leading scorer, announce he would be back for another season.

However, Monday Calipari got even more good and needed news when 6-9, 225-pound graduate student Tre Mitchell announced he was transferring from West Virginia — something made possible by the recent retirement of coach Bob Huggins — to Kentucky.

Kentucky will be his fourth college team — he also was at Texas and Massachusetts — but Mitchell has so many things that Kentucky needs, especially with freshman Aaron Bradshaw out indefinitely after having foot surgery.

Mitchell has played in 102 career games and made 92 starts. He’s scored 1,398 points in college and has 597 total rebounds. He started 32 of 34 games at West Virginia last season when he averaged 11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 30 minutes per game. He also had 61 assists, 28 steals and 21 blocks while shooting 47 percent overall from the field.

As soon as he put his name into the transfer portal, Kentucky was on him. His family has long-time connections with Calipari and the Cats are desperate for inside players.

 “Tre is from Pittsburgh and I’ve known him for years,” Calipari said in a release from UK. “This was a unique situation but as soon as he put his name in the portal, he was a player I knew we needed to pursue.

“He brings leadership, experience, size and versatility and is a great fit for what we want to do. I know this is a win for us and I believe this will be a win for him, too. We are excited to have him as a part of our program.”

Mitchell played two years at UMass and started 43 games while averaging 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game before transferring to Texas his junior season where he started 17 games and averaged 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

West Virginia tried to convince him not to transfer after Huggins left but Kentucky was an easy choice for him to make.

“Kentucky basketball and its fan base speaks for itself,” Mitchell said. “An opportunity to be a part of something like this doesn’t come around very often.

“Coach Cal is a Hall of Fame coach who understands the game and the players he wants to play for him, but it’s the lifelong relationships with his players that stood out to me the most. That only happens when you know someone cares about their players.”

Mitchell, the 2019 Gatorade High School Player of the Year in Connecticut, gives Kentucky a great option/insurance policy if Bradshaw is out an extended period of time. Or he would give Calipari the flexibility to play Bradshaw at center and Mitchell at power forward even though Bradshaw says he wants to play power forward.

Mitchell also brings experience and toughness to a team with seven freshmen — and the possibility of adding one more before the season starts — needs. Mitchell and Reeves will have plenty of five-star teammates but none of them have played a college game.

Kentucky currently has seven freshmen, two sophomores (Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso, Reeves and Mitchell on the roster and everyone except Bradshaw will be eligible to play in Toronto when Global Jam tips off July 12.