Texas Basketball: Tre Mitchell advanced analytical deep dive

Defensive stats

Although most of the notable numbers that Mitchell registered during his time playing for UMass over the last two seasons came on the offensive end, he was still a proven two-way force. Mitchell still averaged a career-best 1.2 steals per game and 1.5 blocks last season. And of his 7.2 rebounds per game, 5.8 were defensive.

What is really of note for Mitchell in terms of defensive metrics is how he took a step forward in defensive rating over the last two seasons. He registered a defensive rating around 100 during his true freshman campaign, which progressed to around 96 last season. The improvement in defensive box plus/minus followed suit too.

Mitchell registered a 0.9 defensive box plus/minus during his true freshman campaign, and that progressed to 2.3 last season.

And of Mitchell’s 5.3 career total win shares, 2.2 are defensive and 3.3 are offensive. The number of offensive and defensive win shares for Mitchell as a freshman were pretty evenly split. But that separated to 1.5 offensive win shares in just 13 games played last season, compared to just under one defensive win share.

It is clear that Mitchell will both be a force on the glass for the Longhorns on the defensive end, and a solid rim protector. Mitchell ranked seventh in the A-10 last season, posting a career-best 4.8 block percentage. He did rank in the top 15 in the A-10, though, both seasons in block percentage.

The steal percentage for Mitchell wasn’t too shabby either, at 2.1. Mitchell’s steal percentage and block percentage were both slightly better than what former Texas center Jericho Sims posted last season.