Tre Mitchell is a transfer player from University of Massachusetts, committing to the Longhorns on the 16th of June. The best player on his former team, Mitchell was one of the most sought after transfers in the country. Here’s why.​

A four-star recruit coming out of high school, Mitchell averaged 18.8 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 2.2 APG with a 26.8 PER in a COVID-shortened second season on a team that desperately needed his skills. In his first season, where he started as a freshman and played all 31 games, he averaged 17.7 per game. His most impressive quality is that he can score from all three levels. He can finish around the rim with either hand and has touch on a little hook-shot that he utilizes over defenders of size. He can score in traffic, as you can see below.

In his 37-point game against La Salle, he uses the screen to get cleanly to the block. He then fights off the double-team and uses his nifty hook for a contested two-pointer. Even after having the ball knocked away for a split second, he is able to recover and score.

Here’s another example of his hook, this time a bit further away from the basket.

He’s got a nice stroke from midrange and can also hit from three, where he shot 37.5% in his sophomore campaign. As you can see below, he’s got great form, especially for a guy slated to play center or power forward. Here’s a face-up from midrange; he’s not simply a back-to-the-basket big.

Below, he floats away from the post and catches the perimeter defenders sleeping for an open three. The close-out contest is too late and Mitchell makes it look easy.

Here, he forces the switch at the top of the lane in the pick 'n' pop, and Davidson doesn’t recover defensively. Another gimme three-pointer.

In basketball’s changing landscape, stretch fours and fives are vital to success, especially in the drive-and-kick, four-out era. Mitchell fits the bill of this kind of player. His overall field goal percentage for his sophomore season was 51.9%, which is more impressive than a general big’s FG percentage because of his play from both the mid-range and the perimeter.

Mitchell is a good athlete, and can run the floor in transition despite his 6’9” frame. He’s fast and agile, as can be seen in the following clip, where he makes a steal off of a pass into the post, takes the ball basket-to-basket, and puts it in on a beautiful Euro-step. He shows considerable control for a center or power forward.

An underrated part of Mitchell’s game is his defense. As I’ve pointed out already, he’s got a big frame with athleticism to match, which has made him a decent shot blocker, as well as good at breaking up passing lanes. As seen in the earlier clip where he steals the post feed and takes it coast-to-coast, here are a couple of clips of his interior defense as far as preventing easy shots around the basket. The ability to double-jump to continue to contest after the initial block shows real bounce, as well as tenacity around the basket. It’s Marvin Bagley-esque (Bagley’s double-jump was actually a reason cited as to why he was drafted ahead of Luka Doncic, but I digress; Bagley was an excellent college player).

On this block below, we see Mitchell stay home on the drive and adjust in mid-air in order to get a clean attempt on the shot, before wrestling it away and throwing the outlet pass down floor to an open man, which leads to an easy basket.

Another note on his offense: a skill he’s developed over time is his ability to draw fouls. He has grown in this area, as he started with 4.4 free throw attempts per game in his freshman year to 6.3 attempts in his second. Shooting a solid 76.8% from the line, he makes these attempts count. His developing ability to clean the glass offensively (1.4 ORB/game) gives him opportunities to draw fouls in the post.

Below is an example of his finishing through contact for an and-one (he made the free-throw).

Despite seeing a decrease in usage percentage from his freshman year from 31.9% to 26.6%, he proved that while he touched the ball less, his efficiency improved. He also increased his assist numbers while decreasing his turnovers per game. Though it was a smaller sample size with only 13 games on the year, he clearly showed improvement.

The last aspect to Mitchell’s game that warrants discussion is his rebounding. He averaged 7.2 boards per game in his 13-game sophomore season - the same amount of rebounds that Jericho Sims, the Horns’ now-departed leading rebounder, averaged last season. Mitchell fills an immediate need at center, and would have likely been the best player on Texas’ Big-12 Championship squad from last year, at least from a statistical standpoint. Hopefully, this will quell some anxieties about Sims’ departure.

Overall, I’m expecting big things from Mitchell in his junior season on the 40 Acres. He has every skill required to be a scoring machine, the length and athleticism to play consistent defense, especially down low, and a knack for rebounding that gives him the all-around game to be one of the best players for Texas on the upcoming roster. He can run the floor in transition, and in Chris Beard’s motion offense, he should get a lot of opportunities to score coming off of screens, especially when coming down from the perimeter on open cuts to the basket. In general, the spacing will be better than he’s used to.

He will also have ample opportunities to shoot threes coming off of picks. UMass’ offense was kind of a mess in his first two seasons, and in Austin under Beard, Mitchell will have legitimate point guard play with Marcus Carr to set him up so he doesn’t have to fight through double teams every time he gets the ball down low. Again, the point of the motion offense is space, so he’ll be able to make moves with a lot more freedom. His versatility as a player will allow him to slot into different rotations as well, which will only increase his floor time.

@KeenanWomack_OB