Texas Basketball: 3 new additions shining through the first 5 games

Tre Mitchell, C

Beard and the Longhorns have steadily increased the role that the former UMass Minutemen star sophomore center Tre Mitchell has played at key points in games this season. Mitchell didn’t start in the first two games of the regular season, but he did get a nod in the starting unit in the last three outings.

While Mitchell had a bit of a pedestrian outing in limited minutes with the starting unit in the Longhorns’ dominant 24-point win over Cal Baptist back on Nov. 24, he was still effective when needed. And that’s largely the story for Mitchell on the season so far, outside of that double-digit road loss to the Zags a couple of weeks ago.

In his first five games played of the regular season, Mitchell has averaged around 10 points per game, five rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block. And he’s shot around 50 percent from the field, 38 percent from beyond the arc, and 73 percent from the free-throw line.

Mitchell has done a little bit of everything for Beard and the Longhorns out of the gates this season. He’s an important presence down low, as a solid rebounder and rim protector, that can also space the floor on the offensive end.

It will be really fun to see what the Longhorns can do with this frontcourt unit once the former Vanderbilt Commodores standout sophomore power forward Dylan Disu finally makes his debut this season.