West Virginia transfer forwards Emmitt Matthews Jr, Tre Mitchell cleared to play in 2022-23 season

The NCAA has declared West Virginia basketball transfers Emmitt Matthews Jr and Tre Mitchell eligible to compete in the 2022-23 season, the program announced Monday. The move to Morgantown is the second transfer in both players’ careers and by NCAA rule they required a waiver to play next season.

Matthews should be a familiar name for Mountaineers fans as he spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career at West Virginia before transferring to Washington this past season. In his one year with the Huskies, he averaged 11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 43.4% from the floor. He saw more playing time in Washington, averaging 32 minutes per game compared to 21 across his three seasons at WVU.

Tre Mitchell should also be a name that West Virginia fans knows as he played in the Big 12 this past season with the Texas Longhorns. A former four-star recruit and the No. 87 overall player in the 2019 class according to On3 Consensus, he began his career in the Atlantic 10 with Massachusetts. There he averaged 18 points and 7.2 rebounds over two seasons before transferring to Texas this past year.

With the Longhorns, Mitchell started in 17 of his 24 appearances while averaging 8.7 points and four rebounds across 18.6 minutes. He appeared in one contest against the Mountaineers in which he finished with six points and three boards. Mitchell has two years of eligibility remaining, while Matthews has just one.

West Virginia is coming off of a 16-17 finish this past season and hoping to make it back to the NCAA Tournament, where it has made 10 appearances in 15 years under Bob Huggins. Emmitt Matthews and Tre Mitchell are just two of six transfers set to join the team next season. Other notable names include Iowa point guard Joe Toussaint and South Carolina shooting guard Erik Stevenson.