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Tre Mitchell Finding Old Self After Foot Injury

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Tre Mitchell
Tre Mitchell points to the fans, thanking them for traveling and being heard.

Today, Nov. 18, marks six weeks since West Virginia forward had surgery on his foot after an injury he sustained during the preseason. Mitchell is just one week into his new start at WVU, but is finding his old self through recovery.

“It’s kind of surreal in a way because this Friday will be six weeks from surgery for me. I got back pretty quickly and got back to be able to be out there,” Mitchell said on Tuesday. I am a little behind in conditioning and understanding out offensive plays but that will just come with time.”

“I think that once I get back to where I was and surpass that, then this team is going to skyrocket,” Mitchell added.

West Virginia has started out the season with a 3-0 record, with a big Backyard Brawl blowout win over Pitt on Nov. 11. Mitchell is leading the team so far in scoring with 14.0 points per game. Against Morehead State on Tuesday, the Texas transfer played significant minutes for the first time as he was limited last week. Mitchell finished with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

“I feel like I just have a natural knack for scoring,” Mitchell. “It’s been an emphasis for my entire life to take the right shots at the right moments.”

Mitchell’s 21 points was the most he’s scored since the 2020-21 season at UMass. Mitchell’s scoring was something that was missing during his one year stint at Texas. Last season Mitchell struggled moving up from the Atlantic-10 to the Big 12. A big part was Texas head coach Chris Beard playing Mitchell out of position at the center spot. Mitchell played more of a stretch-four at UMass, which led to him averaging 17.7 points and 18.8 points in back-to-back seasons.

WVU head coach Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers played Mitchell once last season when he was at Texas. Mitchell, a Pittsburgh native, finished that game with six points in 22 minutes. Huggins didn’t really get to scout the forward that he knows now.

“[Texas] didn’t move him around much. I didn’t know he could do a good many of things that he can do,” Huggins said.

Mitchell has made his appearance into the starting lineup and will continue to play a stretch-four role this season for West Virginia. Mitchell has a chance to lead this WVU back to relevancy. Huggins will be cautious and make sure that they aren’t bringing Mitchell back too quickly.

“It’s hard to know how much you can let him go [during practice]. He’s not in great shape, he’s getting closer,” Huggins said.

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