MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Mark Kellogg and the WVU women’s basketball team have passed each test to date in their 11-0 start to the season. The degree of difficulty should increase quickly as the Mountaineers open Big 12 Conference play on Saturday afternoon.
West Virginia visits Allen Fieldhouse to face the Kansas Jayhawks (7-4) in their first of 18 league games. The Mountaineers broke through into the Associated Press rankings this week at No. 25.
“To be completely honest, Top 25 was not one of the non-conference goals. It wasn’t about that. It was, let’s continue to get better and learn our identity and figure out who our teammates are. Those were some of their written goals,” said Kellogg.
“They wanted to go undefeated. That was one of their goals. They wanted to sweep Pitt and Penn State. That was really important to them.”
Kellogg, West Virginia’s third head coach in three seasons, has blended a mix of established veterans and newcomers well throughout the months of November and December. Nearing the midway point of the regular season, Kellogg says the team is still very much a work in progress despite a perfect record. Adjusting to changes mid-game will be required entering Big 12 play.
“We have still only played eleven games together. Obviously, we get to practice and we get to work on a few things. But when other teams play you differently, we’ve got to be able to react to what they do. What we are trying to do is come up with what that may be so we can stay ahead of that curve just a little bit rather than wait until we get in a game.
“They have picked up on the style. We are turning people over. We are keeping people off balance. A couple things they didn’t do particularly well a year ago — they weren’t very high-assist, dead last in the Big 12 — and they didn’t shoot the three very well. Both of those things, we are doing fairly well right now. I think we are almost 19 assists per game. We’re sharing the basketball and we are shooting at a pretty good clip because I think we are getting the right people the right shots at the right time.”
The Mountaineers have out rebounded nine of their eleven opponents this season and they are plus-6 in rebounding margin. Kyah Watson leads the team with 5.7 rebounds per contest.
“We have been okay rebounding, better than average. I don’t know that we are a great rebounding team by any stretch. We are going to get more challenged in the Big 12. So I think we are going to learn more about us from a rebounding standpoint here pretty soon.”
Kansas and West Virginia share one common opponent. WVU defeated Penn State, 83-65. The Jayhawks fell to PSU, 91-85. The Mountaineers are one of four Big 12 teams (TCU, Texas and Baylor) with perfect records through non-conference play.
West Virginia will host Big 12 newcomer Cincinnati in their first conference home game on January 3.
In the latest ESPN Bracketology, Charlie Creme has West Virginia listed as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers check in at No. 29 in the latest NCAA NET ratings.