Tre Mitchell bringing more to Kentucky's offense as playmaking big man

Now on his fourth team in five years, Tre Mitchell has seen plenty of college basketball. From the mid-major ranks to the Power 5, the 6-foot-9 power forward has experienced bouts of personal success at all of his previous stops. But he’s never played for someone like John Calipari, who is letting Tre be, well, Tre, for the first time during his college career.

“A big thing that (Calipari) emphasized to me was ‘I want you to be the best you’,” Mitchell said during Wednesday’s SEC Media Day. “Some coaches, you go to different programs and they want you to fit into a system, but Coach Cal just wants you to be able to play your game at the highest level.“

The Big Blue Nation got a taste of what that level looks like up in Toronto a few months ago. Kentucky went a perfect 4-0 at GLOBL JAM, resulting in a gold medal and plenty of optimism looking ahead to the 2023-24 season. In Canada, Mitchell was a pleasant surprise to all, averaging 14.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 57.5 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from distance.

He’s not a traditional big man. Not one who will bury you in the post or use his physicality to overwhelm you — although he’s certainly capable of doing so at over 230 pounds with a wide frame. What makes Mitchell so unique is how he blends guard-like abilities, outside shooting, and impressive basketball IQ into the rest of his game. He’s someone Calipari can run the offense through. And that’s what the head coach intends to do, especially with two seven-footers — Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso — still on the mend for the foreseeable future.

“It’s whatever Cal wants from us, but I definitely am able to pass it with some of the best of them,” Mitchell said. “Being able to be that connector at times. It’s easy to get a one-pass shot. Sometimes the best play is to just catch it and move it, or catch it and get into a dribble handoff, get dudes to switch things up. That’s a piece of my game that I think benefits our team a lot. The willingness to pass the ball is contagious. Once they see it and they see how successful it can be, dudes kind of just feed off that and keep going.”

Two INCREDIBLE passes on this play. They are both admittedly a little high risk, but man, when they are executed it is a beautiful thing.

First, love the early screening by Tre Mitchell. Downscreen, flips right into downhill ballscreen.

Pocket pass. Mitchell to Joey Hart. BANG! pic.twitter.com/GpM6QIv3Ct

— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) October 12, 2023

Looking back, Mitchell was never given the opportunity to be a true “connector” at his previous stops. Being selfless on the floor and feeding his teammates is something that he learned to do a long time ago. And yet, he’s never averaged more than 2.2 assists per game in college. The one time he did came during his second season at UMass in 2020-21 when the COVID-19 pandemic limited the Minutemen to just 15 total games. Not so coincidentally, he was tabbed First-Team All-Atlantic 10 that season.

“I’ve naturally always been a passer,” Mitchell added. “Since I was younger I’ve enjoyed getting my teammates involved and seeing them score. That’s just something that came with the game for me.”

Mitchell’s playmaking abilities shined in Toronto. If he wasn’t making backdoor passes to a cutting teammate, he was manipulating defenses with the ball in his hands. He could be at the top of the key or near the baseline, his head always on a swivel. As he mentioned above, passing can be contagious — it sure was in Canada. It resulted in Kentucky recording assists on over half of their made baskets while shooting a combined 37.6 percent from beyond the arc.

“If we move the ball the same way we did in Toronto,” Mitchell said. “I don’t see many teams stopping us from shooting the ball well.” He’s already eager to play alongside Kentucky’s third seven-footer, Croatian freshman Zvonimir Ivisic, to see what they can unlock as a frontcourt pairing.

In honor of there being Kentucky Basketball on our TV's tonight…

Can't wait to watch this team play together again. Tre Mitchell is the connector that makes the offense potentially elite. Fits seamlessly into a more 5-Out style.

Wagner & Mitchell looked in sync @ GLOBL JAM. pic.twitter.com/Lx1cVu0crn

— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) October 11, 2023

The competition will take a significant step up once the regular season tips off in a few weeks. Ideally, Kentucky will be even better in November than they were in July. As practice began to get rolling earlier in the fall, Mitchell’s chemistry with his teammates began to grow. At SEC Media Day, he was asked who he’s developed the best connection with in practice so far, but didn’t have a confident answer — he’s working well with everyone.

“It depends on the day,” Mitchell said. “There’s one day that me and Reed (Sheppard) got it going, or there’s a day me and Rob (Dillingham) got it going, or me and DJ (Wagner), me and (Antonio Reeves). It’s weird, it really is weird. We all just play together. It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced personally.“

The team synergy is coming along just fine. Kentucky is still going to need those two seven-footers fully healthy, but letting Tre Mitchell be Tre Mitchell in the frontcourt isn’t even close to the worst thing Calipari will have to deal with this season.

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