Mark Kellogg had a winning track record at the schools he coached at before arriving at West Virginia in 2023. In year one at West Virginia, he has proven those winning ways to translate to a higher level of competition in college women’s basketball.
West Virginia finished the regular season with a record of 23-6, finishing sixth in the Big 12 Conference during that time. WVU has spent time in the back end of the AP Poll as well, reaching as high as 22nd.
The Mountaineers began the season going 11-0 in non-conference play, which included wins over Pitt and then 25th-ranked Penn State. The only time where they came close to losing in that period was a 54-51 win over George Washington in the San Juan Shootout.
When conference play rolled around, West Virginia started 2-0, moving them to 13-0 and tying the second-best mark for a season in program history.
West Virginia faced a top-notch opponent for the first time on January 6 in No. 10 Texas, taking their first loss of the season 70-49. To date, West Virginia had all sorts of season worsts in that game.
The Mountaineers followed that game up with a loss to unranked Iowa State 74-64. They rebounded after that to win seven consecutive games, which included becoming the first team in college women’s basketball history to record a shutout in a quarter in consecutive games.
West Virginia ran into another ranked team on February 10 against No. 18 Baylor. They ended up losing that game 65-58, moving them to 1-2 against ranked opponents.
Towards the back half of February, West Virginia faced a string of three consecutive ranked opponents. They beat the eventual top seed No. 23 Oklahoma 70-66, lost to 10th ranked Kansas State 73-64 in overtime, then lost to No. 24 Baylor 66-65.
West Virginia then closed out the regular season with a loss to Oklahoma State 68-61 and a win over TCU 57-49.
In the Big 12 Tournament, West Virginia beat 11th-seeded Cincinnati 70-55 on Friday, then fell to third-seeded Kansas State 65-62 on Saturday.
In all, the 24 wins up to this point are the most for West Virginia Women’s Basketball since 2017-18. An NCAA Tournament appearance is likely for the Mountaineers as they await to see where they get seeded and who they face.
Kellogg has helped the Mountaineers improve statistically compared to last season. After ranking ninth in the conference with 66 points per game, the Mountaineers have improved to fifth this season with 74.6 points per game.
West Virginia has also gone from having a +4.5-point differential last season to a +16.8-point differential this season. They have improved slightly in scoring defense as well, going from 61.5 points allowed per game last season to 57.8 points allowed per game this season.
The Mountaineers went from leading the conference in steals per game with 9.6 to ranking second in the nation this season with 13.9.
Kellogg’s first season at West Virginia has overall been a success and the only knack could be the record against ranked teams. West Virginia was 2-5 against teams that were ranked in the AP Poll at the time that they faced them.
Selection Sunday is set for March 17, when the teams will be revealed for both sides of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, where the women’s basketball bracket will be revealed at 8 p.m. EST.
