MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Primarily a guard-oriented team in each of Mark Kellogg’s first two seasons as head coach, West Virginia feels it has the ability to pack more punch on the interior in the 2025-26 campaign.
That was certainly the case Monday night in the season opener against an undersized Purdue Fort Wayne team.
With 6-foot-3 center Jordan Thomas and 6-1 forward Kierra Wheeler in the starting lineup, the Mountaineers went inside early and often and finished with a 42-24 edge in paint points and 51 rebounds to ease past the Mastodons 83-47 at the Hope Coliseum.
“It’ll be a thing throughout the year — some nights more than others,” Kellogg said. “We thought we had an advantage in there tonight so that was of course part of the game plan.
“We wanted to pound the paint was the term that we used.”
Starting with WVU’s first field goal, which Wheeler accounted for in the paint, the Mountaineers were in front to stay.
Wheeler, a Norfolk State transfer and WVU’s only new addition among its starting five, made 4-of-4 field goals and scored nine points in the first quarter to stake the home team to a 23-12 lead.
“I came out with the same intensity as my teammates knowing what standard West Virginia has,” Wheeler said, “and trying to live up to that standard.”
Twelve of West Virginia’s points in the opening frame were scored in the paint, and the Mountaineers used their decisive size advantage and aggressiveness to attempt 13 free throws, though they made only five.
Purdue Fort Wayne, coming off a 27-win season in which it won twice in the NIT, had 12 field-goal attempts with 10 turnovers in the opening quarter as the visitors struggled to handle West Virginia’s relentless pressure.
“Our identity showed,” Kellogg said. “We turned them over, got after people and we’ll play hard.”
The Mastodons got a pair of second-quarter three-pointers from Rylee Bess to trim a 15-point deficit to 29-20, and their deficit remained nine at 34-25 after Destiny Macharia connected from long range with 2:06 to play in the second.
WVU answered with a strong ending to the half, utilizing a triple from Jordan Harrison and another from Sydney Shaw to hold a 40-25 lead at the break. The advantage would have been greater were it not for the Mountaineers misfiring on 8-of-17 free-throw attempts, though they made all four attempts in the second frame. Purdue Fort Wayne, meanwhile, went the first two quarters without shooting a free throw.
Leading by 14, the Mountaineers ran off nine unanswered points near the midway point of the third quarter to gain a 54-31 lead.
Shaw began the spurt with a conventional three-point play, while Gia Cooke and Harrison scored shortly after, before Cooke’s two free throws at the 3:44 mark left WVU with the 23-point advantage.
Just as the case was in the first period, Purdue Fort Wayne finished the third with 12 shots attempted and 10 turnovers.
“We did a good job defensively of taking them out of what they traditionally like to do,” Kellogg said.
Harrison finished with a team-high 15 points, Wheeler followed with 14, Thomas added 12 and Shaw scored 11.
“It’s nice to have Mimi [Wheeler] down there with me,” Thomas said. “As the season goes on, we’re going to only get better. I’m excited for it.”
Riley Makalusky was WVU’s leading scorer off the bench with eight points. Five Mountaineer reserves combined for 27 points, though the Mastodons were plus-three in bench points.
WVU made 14-of-17 free throws over the final two quarters.
Purdue Fort Wayne, which turned it over 31 times, got nine points from both Bess and Macharia as both players made three treys.
Nineteen of WVU’s 51 rebounds were on the offensive end.
“We had to get offensive rebounds because we didn’t make very many first shots,” Kellogg said. “Plenty to clean up.”