‘Little Mitchell’ leads Kentucky, on and off the court. ‘I love how he is as a teammate.’
The day before embarking on his first real road trip as a Kentucky Wildcat, one of this team’s newcomers talked about his vast experience as a visiting player in hostile territory and how this season might be a little different.
Tre Mitchell is in his fifth year of college basketball. He’s been a star for UMass in the Atlantic 10 and a Big 12 starter at Texas and West Virginia. He’s seen and heard just about everything in visiting gyms, but he acknowledged last week that he’d never experienced anything quite like the sustained onslaught that comes with playing away games as a Wildcat in the SEC.
He had an idea of what to expect when the Cats rolled into Gainesville for their league opener against Florida the next day. And he couldn’t wait to get there.
“I’m more excited for the away games,” Mitchell said. “I’ve experienced Rupp, and I love it, but I know that wearing this name across your chest brings a whole other level to fan bases. There’s going to be arenas where people don’t show up for the team all year, and just because we’re coming to town it’s sold out. It’s part of the territory, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Mitchell — one of two fifth-year players on a team filled mostly with freshmen — said then that he was trying to get his younger teammates prepped on what they would see and hear. He told them to think about the jeers from opposing fans in different terms. Whether they knew it or not, it wasn’t hatred of Kentucky — but rather respect for the program — that demanded their attention.
“When somebody’s trying to get you out of your game, there’s a reason,” Mitchell said. “There’s something they fear that you’re capable of. So, even though it sounds like hate, when you really think about it, it’s love at the end of the day. Because they’re so invested in what you’re doing.”
The Rowdy Reptiles of the O’Connell Center sure were invested in what the Cats were doing last Saturday, giving Kentucky’s players their full attention from the opening tip.
As his young teammates struggled — going down double digits late in the first half — Mitchell sensed the need for an energy shift.
With around 90 seconds left before halftime and the Cats down nine points, the 6-foot-9 Mitchell took the ball at 6-11 Alex Condon, faked to get the Gator off his feet, then scored over him. What happened next raised some eyebrows, as well as the ire of the Florida fans.
Even though his team was losing by seven points, Mitchell hit Condon with the “too small” taunt, then turned to face the student section to make sure they had seen it.
“Honestly, it came to me in the moment,” he said. “Because I knew we were down a few points, and they were just saying whatever over there. But me being in the position that I was in — I had it going a little bit in the first half, and I just tried to get their attention. Because it was our first road game, and some dudes may be worried about it. I don’t know what was going through their minds. But if I can get that attention on me — I’ve heard everything. I’ve heard absolutely everything from a student section. So it’s like, ‘Let me get you to focus on me. You’re not saying none of my dudes’ names.’ ... So, it worked out well.”
Mitchell had 12 points and eight rebounds in that first half. Fellow fifth-year player Antonio Reeves had nine points. No other Wildcat had more than five, and UK’s freshmen were a combined 5-for-16 in their first half on the SEC road. Something had to change.
Mitchell said he made eye contact with a couple of people in the Florida student section immediately after hitting Condon with the “too small” gesture.
“I don’t know who started the chant,” he said with a smile. “But they got it going.”
His plan worked. The total ire of the Rowdy Reptiles was directed at the 23-year-old.
“Little Mitchell!” they chanted. “Little Mitchell!”
The chant carried over into the second half, when Kentucky turned the game around, with its young freshmen ultimately leading the Wildcats to an 87-85 victory.
At first, Mitchell didn’t even know what they were saying. He eventually figured it out.
“And I was just like, ‘OK, you can say that. That’s fine. I got a double-double, but it’s whatever.’”
And, three days after the fact, the veteran laughed back at the scene.
‘I love how he is as a teammate’
On Tuesday night, Mitchell tallied 20 points and 14 rebounds in Kentucky’s 90-77 victory over Missouri, the first 20-10 game by a Wildcat all season and the transfer forward’s third double-double in the past four games.
Mitchell had just three double-doubles in his previous two seasons combined. He had zero double-digit rebound games at UK until going for 18 points and 12 boards at Louisville last month, followed by an eight-point, 11-rebound performance in a win over Illinois State and then a final stat line of 12 points and 10 boards in Gainesville.
When it was suggested to John Calipari after the win over Mizzou that perhaps a growing confidence was leading to Mitchell’s bigger box scores, the UK coach shot down that theory.
“It’s not confidence,” he said. “It’s his motor. When his motor runs, he is a double-double. And we all — these guys rely on him. And they do Antonio, too. But they rely on him.”
Mitchell’s improving rebounding numbers have surely been aided by the relatively recent debuts of Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso, a couple of 7-footers whose presence has taken more of the frontcourt attention away from Mitchell, an undersized 5 with the unenviable assignment of checking the other team’s biggest player until just a few weeks ago.
He’s now more free to fight for boards. And he’s doing it. He’s also clearly cemented himself as a leader of young men in his final season of college basketball.
Calipari acknowledged that Mitchell’s presence is benefiting his teenager-heavy roster.
“It’s also how he handles me,” the 64-year-old coach noted.
The two share the same wavelength. Mitchell can challenge the Hall of Fame coach on certain topics, and Calipari listens. The player on his fourth college head coach laughs at this one’s jokes, and Calipari appreciates that.
“I love coaching him,” he said. “I love it. And I love how he is as a teammate.”
The distribution of playing time for this Kentucky team with so many potential stars has been hotly debated all season. It’s also clearly been a topic of conversation inside the UK locker room.
Calipari said he recently went around the room, naming off players, wondering aloud who should be playing fewer minutes to give someone else a bigger chance. He told the team that Mitchell was in his office not long before that, lamenting that he wasn’t getting enough shots.
“And they all went, ‘What?’” Calipari said.
He asked his players if they thought that was true.
“No, he didn’t do that,” was the collective response.
“They all know,” said Calipari, adding that Mitchell was laughing along with it. “He doesn’t complain about it. He knows his role.”
Kentucky’s veteran
Mitchell is this team’s third-leading scorer at 13.2 points per game. He’s the Cats’ leading rebounder — and sixth in the SEC — at 7.8 boards per game. He leads UK — and is second in the league — with 34.2 minutes per game.
But his worth to this team goes way beyond any of that.
Freshman guard Rob Dillingham — the star of Kentucky’s win over Missouri and a possible NBA lottery pick — says Mitchell gives them the confidence to play their game. Off the court, he gives them the encouragement and perspective that only a veteran can.
“There’s been times where I’ve been struggling,” Dillingham said. “And people text you, but … Tre will go out of his way and send me a long message, just talking about God, talking about, ‘Keep going.’ Talking about overcoming adversity. So I look at Tre as like a way different person. Because he helps me so much, and he actually cares for me.”
This UK team has all kinds of talent, perhaps as much as any in college basketball. What this roster didn’t have — until Mitchell arrived — was experience. The only other Wildcat with any previous, prolonged exposure to the college game was Reeves, who spent much of last season finding his own place on a new stage after three years at mid-major Illinois State.
Mitchell didn’t know anything about life on the SEC road coming in, but he’d seen enough. One game in particular helped shape his mindset in these situations.
About two years ago, he was a starter on the Texas team that walked into a madhouse in Lubbock, the return game of head coach Chris Beard, who had cultivated a ravenous atmosphere at Texas Tech — even taking the Red Raiders to the 2019 national title game — before jumping ship to rival Texas two years later.
Mitchell looked back on that wild night a few hours before boarding the plane for Gainesville.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be any worse than it was playing for Chris Beard and going back to Texas Tech for that first time,” he said. “Because that was an unbelievable environment. And I don’t think there’s going to be many arenas that get louder than that place got. It was like an hour before the game, and you can’t hear anything. It was an insane experience, because it was like before the ball even went up — we’re lined up getting ready to do jump ball, and it wasn’t too loud, and then the ref blew that whistle before he threw it up and they started screaming. Your head was shaking.
“I’ve seen it all. So there’s nothing I probably haven’t dealt with before.”
Now, he’s on another new journey with another new team. And most of these guys haven’t dealt with any of this before. They’ll get another taste of it Saturday, a trip to College Station for a sold-out game at Texas A&M.
Mitchell said he does think about how he got here. If West Virginia coach Bob Huggins hadn’t been arrested for a DUI during the offseason — ultimately leading to his ouster and Mitchell’s decision to transfer — he’d be spending this season in Morgantown.
Instead, he’s in Lexington. And he’s become the guy who others rely on.
“I can credit that to everywhere I’ve been,” Mitchell said. “I’ve had to get along with a lot of different types of people. And I’ve been blessed with the ability to understand people, and be able to switch perspectives. And put myself in people’s shoes. And I’ve got to give that to God. He’s just blessed me in that way, to be a people person. And it’s easy for me to tell when dudes are off. And for some reason, I’m able to understand what they’re thinking, even if they don’t say it.
“But that’s just part of my job, as a leader. When I see that, I can acknowledge that. I can uplift guys. And, like I said, it’s a blessing to be able to do that. So, as much as I can, I do it.”
This UK team sure looks like it could be something special. But it’s fair to wonder where they’d be without Mitchell. If what happened with Huggins hadn’t taken place, if Mitchell hadn’t hit the transfer portal so late in the offseason, how would these Wildcats have gotten along without him?
“I don’t know,” Mitchell said Tuesday night. “Who knows? I’m here. I’m doing everything I can. Like I said, I’m here to help benefit these guys. I go out there, I play my game, and I let my game speak for itself. Off the court, I want to see these dudes grow. Not only as players, but as people. There’s life experiences that I’ve had that they can draw off of — that they can almost entirely skip out on going through some of the stuff that I’ve been through. And jump ahead.
“So, who knows where we’d be? But, I’m here.”
Next game
No. 6 Kentucky at Texas A&M
When: 2 p.m. EST Saturday
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 12-2 (2-0 SEC), Texas A&M 9-6 (0-2)
Series: Kentucky leads 13-4
Last meeting: Kentucky won 76-67 on Jan. 21, 2023, in Lexington
The Rob Dillingham experience takes center stage. And John Calipari is living with it.
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win over the Missouri Tigers
John Welch brought an NBA perspective to this Kentucky team. What has he seen so far?
Kentucky stays put in new Top 25 rankings. But Cats could make a move in the next AP poll.
First Scouting Report: Can UK survive road game with veteran, physical Texas A&M?
Where to watch, how to follow the Kentucky men’s basketball game at Texas A&M
