Emmitt Matthews Jr. returning to West Virginia to play final season of college basketball

(Emmitt Matthews spotlight reel)

A well-recognized face is returning to West Virginia’s males’s basketball program for his remaining collegiate season.

Fifth-year senior ahead Emmitt Matthews Jr. introduced Friday afternoon he’ll enterprise again to Morgantown to conclude his school profession the place it started.

As a graduate switch from Washington, Matthews is instantly eligible to play a fourth season for the Mountaineers.

A local of Tacoma, Washington, the 6-foot-7 Matthews got here to WVU out of highschool and performed his first three seasons as a Mountaineer, showing in 92 video games and beginning 67.

Matthews, a southpaw, entered the switch portal shortly after the 2020-2021 marketing campaign and opted to play one season close to his hometown.

In his lone season at Washington, Matthews was a starter in all 31 appearances and averaged a profession excessive 11.7 factors and 4.7 rebounds over 32 minutes. After making 51 three-pointers over three seasons at WVU, Matthews canned 40 triples and shot a profession greatest 43.4 p.c from the sphere at UW.

Upon his arrival to WVU, Matthews was an instantaneous contributor to the 2018-2019 squad. That season, he made 12 begins, performed in 32 video games and averaged 5.4 factors and three.1 rebounds over 16.4 minutes.

As a sophomore in a season that ended abruptly as a result of pandemic earlier than the Mountaineers may play within the Large 12 or NCAA Tournaments, Matthews began in 30 of 31 appearances and averaged 6.3 factors and three.1 rebounds.

In his third season at WVU, Matthews was a starter in 25 of 29 video games and elevated his scoring common to 7.8 factors on practically 41 p.c taking pictures. Matthews additionally averaged 4 rebounds.

Over 4 seasons in school, Matthews has a profession scoring common of seven.8 factors and three.8 rebounds on 41.4 p.c taking pictures. He has made 30.3 p.c of his triples and 74.4 p.c of free throws.

Matthews turns into West Virginia’s fifth offseason addition by means of switch, becoming a member of South Carolina’s Erik Stevenson, Iowa’s Joe Touissant and junior school publish gamers Mohamed Wague and Jimmy Bell Jr.

Stevenson performed one season at Washington the yr previous to Matthews becoming a member of the Huskies. He’s a local of Lacey, Washington, which is in shut proximity to Matthews’ hometown of Tacoma.

Matthews’ 67 profession begins in a West Virginia uniform are practically double the quantity of begins the rest of the roster has as Mountaineers. Solely guards Kedrian Johnson (30 profession begins) and Kobe Johnson (4 profession begins) have beforehand been amongst a beginning 5 at WVU.

Additionally on Friday, former WVU ahead and Las Vegas native Isaiah Cottrell introduced his verbal dedication to play at UNLV.