It’s official: Emmitt Matthew Jr. is once again a Mountaineer.
Head Coach Bob Huggings announced Wednesday that the fifth-year forward officially signed a grant-in-aid with West Virginia for the 2022-23 academic year. Matthews will return to Morgantown for his final year of college basketball after playing one year at Washington.
Matthews already has three years of experience with West Virginia as he began his career in the Old Gold and Blue in 2018.
“We are extremely excited to have Emmitt back as a Mountaineer,” Huggins said. “He is a great teammate who made countless big plays at crunch time during his three years here. We look forward to having his athleticism and shot-making ability around the perimeter in addition to his rebounding at both ends of the floor. His experience will be invaluable.”
Matthews played in 67 starts in 92 games for the Mountaineers, averaging 6.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. He made three appearances on the Academic All-Big 12 Team and was a crucial piece to WVU’s 2020-21 team that made its return to the NCAA Tournament.
The 6-7 forward has had plenty of memorable performances for West Virginia already. As a freshman in the 2019 Big 12 Tournament, he scored a career-high 28 points to take down No. 7 Texas Tech to burst onto the scene for WVU fans. In 2020, he helped the Mountaineers top No. 4 Baylor by leading the team with 18 points in 38 minutes, ending a shortened season on a high note.
After WVU’s elimination from the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Matthews entered the transfer portal and moved closer to his Tacoma, Washington home and joined the Washington Huskies. In 2021-22, he started all 31 of his games and averaged 11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds with three double-figure rebounding games.