MORGANTOWN — Tre Mitchell spent most of Thanksgiving Day vomiting due to a stomach bug running through the WVU men’s basketball team and not because he had some bad turkey and dressing.
Having overcome that obstacle, Mitchell has since come back to form, and just maybe so have the Mountaineers.
WVU closed out the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in Portland, Ore. on Sunday with an 84-55 victory against Florida.
The Mountaineers (6-1) earned fifth place in the tournament with the victory, but just may have come away with a lot of national respect.
Mitchell, a transfer out of Texas, is a big reason why after scoring 17 points and adding eight rebounds, but we’ll get back to him in a moment.
The Mountaineers’ lone loss in the tournament came on that painful Thanksgiving Day against Purdue, which you will see the Boilermakers leap into the top five in the country today when the national polls come out.
That is a result of Purdue going on to win the whole thing with convincing wins against both Gonzaga and Duke in the next two rounds.
The question that needs to be asked: How would WVU have fared that night against the Boilermakers if both Mitchell and teammate Emmitt Matthews Jr. hadn’t been under the weather?
It’s a fair question considering how the Mountaineers went on to dismantle their next two opponents, including the Gators (4-3), who were thought to be a fair comparison with WVU heading into the game.
That didn’t last long, as WVU drew three fouls against Florida’s star center Colin Castleton in the first half.
It gets better.
In came Castleton’s replacement, Jason Jitoboh, who picked up four fouls.
This was all in the first half, mind you.
Forced to play small and timid the rest of the way, Florida had no chance, as the Mountaineers dominated on the glass, 49-28, and scored 36 points in the paint.
And this is where we get back to Mitchell, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the most versatile forwards to play at WVU maybe since Da’Sean Butler.
Now, the two are different players. Mitchell is taller and more athletic. Butler was a much better shooter and one of the all-time clutch leaders and performers the school’s ever had.
Both are good passers, but Butler could actually play point guard in his day, while Mitchell probably won’t ever be tasked with that responsibility.
Mitchell could be a really good rebounder if he dedicated himself more to that part of the game.
The one trait both players truly share: How comfortable they are with the ball in their hands on all parts of the floor.
Mitchell could catch the ball with his back to the basket around the trees and not be pressured, or he could be out on the perimeter and still be comfortable.
He is a calming presence of sorts on a team that is playing helter-skelter and running all over the place on defense and forcing confusion and turnovers.
Butler, too, played that same role for the Mountaineers during their run to the Final Four in 2010.
The main difference between the two are their circumstances.
Butler played on a WVU team that was ranked in the top 10 for most of that 2009-10 season, while Mitchell is on a team trying to get people to forget about the 16-17 season the Mountaineers had last season.
WVU is working its way up the ranks, and it wouldn’t be a total surprise to see the Mountaineers get a few more votes this week in the national polls.
If WVU goes on the road next week and beats Xavier in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, it would be shocking not to see WVU somewhere in the top 25.
That’s a topic for another day, and the what-if question of how a healthy WVU would have played against Purdue is interesting, but now in the rear-view mirror.
It’s a solid future on the horizon, it would appear for WVU, and Mitchell is one of the main reasons why.
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