AMHERST — With 2½ minutes remaining Wednesday, Tre Mitchell was stuck in a double-team.
But as has become typical of the freshman big man, he spun his way out of trouble and hit a tough jump shot in the lane. As he was running out on defense, he let out a phrase that will ruminate around the Mullins Center for years to come – “This is my gym.”
Those were the last of his 19 points as UMass defeated VCU 60-52, but it was yet another step in the right direction for Mitchell. He has easily cemented himself as the rookie of the year in the Atlantic 10, and he’s slowly making an argument to be a first-team all-conference selection.
Yet the Mitchell that showed up Wednesday against the Rams is far different than the one that began the season with the Minutemen. Mitchell has become a menace on the glass with three double-doubles in his last four games after grabbing 15 rebounds to go along with his 19 points against VCU. He had just two double-doubles in the first 24 games of the season.
“Early in the year it was 20 and five or 18 and 4, and now he’s rebounding the ball like an animal,” McCall said. “He’s not playing anything like a freshman.”
Mitchell was not made available to the media after the game, but his teammates have heaped praise on the big man on social media for much of the last 72 hours. Several Minutemen tweeted that there is no one in college basketball who could defend Mitchell right now after watching game film earlier this week. And it’s hard to argue with them when Mitchell is averaging 19.4 points and 7.7 rebounds in conference play.
“He’s really dominating out there,” junior Carl Pierre said. “Three double-doubles in the last four games, so he’s really getting after it on the glass. And he’s really dependable, you can throw it down there and he knows how to play the game, he’ll be able to make a move and get you a bucket.”
What really has set Mitchell apart lately, though, is his maturation as a player over the last month. In February alone, the freshman has matched up with four of the best big men in the Atlantic 10, and arguably outplayed all of them along the way. He scored 30 points on Rhode Island’s Cyril Langevine, went for 26 points and 10 rebounds against Obi Toppin, Dayton’s national player of the year candidate, and dominated the one-on-one matchup with VCU’s Marcus Santos-Silva.
Having to both defend those players as well as be the center point of the Minutemen’s offense is difficult, but McCall said Mitchell is just a microcosm of the growth UMass has undergone in the last month.
“We’re asking him to do a lot,” McCall said. “We’re asking him to guard Santos-Silva and Langevine and Obi Toppin and all these terrific frontcourt players and then we’re running offense through him and we’re asking him to remember our sets and remember our plays and then make the right play when you get double-teamed then block out and rebound. It’s a lot out of a five man to ask, and it goes back to his character. That’s why he’s having the year that he’s having and he’s been so successful to this point.”
KEON THE KEY — Keon Clergeot has been relatively quiet for the Minutemen in recent weeks, but he made his presence known against VCU. He played 18 critical minutes in helping anchor UMass’ perimeter defense against Rams freshman Nah’Shone “Bones” Hyland. He also made a 3-pointer with 6 minutes, 21 seconds left that McCall said was one of the biggest plays of the game for the Minutemen.
“Defensively, he did the best job on Bones Hyland,” McCall said. “He’s had some big, big games for them and Keon was on him the brunt of the time. When Keon was in defensively, he was really, really good for us.”
BAPTISTE OUT — Center Djery Baptiste is out indefinitely with knee pain, McCall announced after the game. McCall said Baptiste has not practiced the last two weeks, but the pain has gotten worse to the point where McCall said Baptiste is struggling with stairs. The coach said he didn’t believe there was anything structurally wrong with the knee, but the center will continue to see doctors and try different rehabilitation options to help him get back on the court in his final collegiate season.