Tre Mitchell reveals what practices at Kentucky have been like

Kentucky forward Tre Mitchell hasn’t been with the Wildcats for long, but he’s already raving about his teammates in his first few practices. Several of the new UK players got a chance to speak with the media for the first time as members of the program and all of them raved about a couple of characteristics they’ve seen from the team thus far: competitiveness and unselfishness. Mitchell, the elder statesman among the newcomers, shared similar sentiments.

He’s been around the block more than the freshmen, so he knows a little better what good practices look like at the college level. And he certainly believes this team is competing the right way in the early going.

“Just like I said, we’ve been doing a lot of competing. It’s been a lot of competing. Dudes are hungry,” says Mitchell. “Dudes want to get after it every single day and it shows in the way that we play. Dudes are diving on the floor, dudes are going out the bus but at the same time.”

He then echoed something Rob Dillingham had also said: that the team is sharing the ball and guys are passing up good looks for themselves for great looks for other guys.

“Like I just previously said is: I think we moved the ball very well. There’s dudes willing to give up a good shot for a great shot. And I don’t think there’s really any selfishness out there on the court, even though the dudes have just gotten here and just learned each other’s games and are still learning each other’s games. I think that we’re on trajectory to do something great.”

Mitchell was then asked where the unselfishness comes from with this group. To which he responded that the sheer talent up and down the roster requires guys to share the shot opportunities.

“Honestly I think it just comes naturally. I think dudes notice each other’s talent and when you’re out there playing it’s like… okay, this is a good shot, but there’s a dude that is a great player right next to me wide open, so I’m gonna give it up and let him shoot it.”

You never want to let offseason talk swing your opinion too high or too low on a team, but it’s been a refreshing few days listening to these Kentucky players speak on how competitive and unselfish their teammates are. UK just didn’t get a lot of quotes like Tre Mitchell’s throughout the last year. So it’s a breath of fresh air to hear the players share how much they genuinely enjoy hooping with each other, even though they just met.