Carlton\u2019s decision to leave Austin<\/a> was \u201cpretty easy.\u201d A starter on UT\u2019s Final Four team this season, the disgruntled forward never saw eye-to-eye with coach Vic Schaefer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cMy actual decision to leave Texas was pretty easy,\u201d Carlton said. \u201cThey made it pretty easy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked what made the decision easy, Carlton added: \u201cPart of it was just the inconsistency piece. I just did not really enjoy my time that much there. I loved all my teammates, and I have great relationships with all of them. The decision was pretty easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Carlton started 28\u00a0games this season and averaged 8.5 points and 4.0 rebounds. She had a 15-point performance against South Carolina to earn a spot on the All-SEC tournament team.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got a really, really polished offensive game,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWe are going to work hard to help her sharpen her skills and strength them, but she is ready to roll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell said Carlton\u2019s talent and versatility make her capable of being a go-to option for the Cougars, who this week signed Esmeralda Enriquez, a 5-foot-8 guard from Eastern Arizona who was the JUCO national player of the year. UH also added Kaelyn Hamilton, a transfer guard from San Diego State who was the Mountain West\u2019s Sixth Player of the Year last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice is such a\u00a0versatile player profile we\u2019ve had success with,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cThere\u2019s no spot on the floor she can\u2019t score from\u00a0\u2014 3-point, her midrange game is strong, she is just so tough around the basket. She\u2019s got an incredible skill around the basket to use her strength to score against bigger players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I think is interesting for her, she wanted to really prove that she is a go-to type player. That she is not just a screener or ball-reverser, but that she can actually make winning plays and when the chips are down and the ball is in her hand, she can go make a play for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Another plus for Carlton: At Kentucky, Mitchell produced six WNBA draft picks, including No. 1 overall pick Rhyne Howard in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good track record of developing players and helping them get to the next level and play professionally,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI think that\u00a0was attractive to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the biggest selling point no other school could offer: A chance for the Carlton sisters to again take the floor together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be able to be there for her,\u201d Carlton said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be there for her and to play with her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Longhorns forward Justice Carlton (11) is guarded by Kentucky forward Teonni Key (7) during the NCAA Women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-262601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}