MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On Education Day at the Hope Coliseum, West Virginia treated the third-largest crowd for a home game in program history to an 80-51 victory against Appalachian State.
The result enables WVU to start 5-0 for the third time in as many seasons under head coach Mark Kellogg, who recorded his 500th career win and improved to 55-16 in his current position.
Kellogg wasn’t convinced his team played up to its standard, but was appreciative for the 10,067 on hand.
“There’s great energy in the building. It’s a different type of energy,” he said. “It’s fun. We do feed off of it. You feel it, sense it and want to put on a show. I love how knowledgeable our kids are here and how they know when to cheer.”
But in a 29-point victory in a matchup of Mountaineers that marks WVU’s fourth win this season by at least 28, Kellogg felt there was plenty to improve upon.
“Interesting game. Interesting flow,” Kellogg said. “Didn’t love the way we played. In my younger years, I would have really probably let them have it. I’m such a play to the standard and expectation that we have for our program and when we don’t meet it, I’m disappointed.”
West Virginia shot a season-best 56 percent (27 for 48) from the field and went to halftime 13 for 15 inside the arc and 3 of 12 from long range. The Mountaineers made 20-of-26 two-point field-goal attempts for the game, but only 19 of 33 free throws.
“Free-throw shooting, that’s a problem. We beat Duke, because we got to the line and made free throws,” Kellogg noted of his team’s 20 for 26 effort its last time out. “It didn’t hurt us today, but it’s going to if we don’t get it cleaned up.”
West Virginia dominated the middle two quarters to open up a sizable advantage against ASU. The home team scored 27 second-quarter points (the most in any frame this season) to turn a 19-13 advantage into a 17-point halftime lead. Six different WVU players scored in the second, including six points from Sydney Shaw and Jordan Thomas along with five apiece from Kierra ‘Meme’ Wheeler and Sydney Woodley.
Appalachian State shot a plenty respectable 45 percent (10 for 22) and made all six of its free-throw attempts through two quarters, but 13 turnovers to WVU’s six helped the home team attempt five more shots and 10 more free throws.
“We got settled by the second quarter. Our defense, for the most part, was solid other than a few rotations here and there,” Kellogg said. “That got us out on offense, but we didn’t convert at the rate that we should have turnovers.”
Gia Cooke increased her offensive aggressiveness after halftime and it paid off during an 11-point third quarter that saw her capitalize on 6-of-8 free throws as WVU upped its advantage to 65-35 through three frames. Filling the role of primary point guard in the absence of Jordan Harrison, Cooke led all players with 19 points. Seven of her 10 field-goal attempts were threes and Cooke made all three of her shots inside the arc as well as 7-of-9 foul shots.
“I challenged her at halftime to stop jacking so many threes. She’s dynamic downhill,” Kellogg said. “Continue to be aggressive at the right time. She had to play a lot of PG so she had to process and think a little more which is good for her.”
With Harrison serving a one-game NCAA-mandated suspension as a result of her ejection due to a flagrant 2 foul in last Friday’s matchup with Duke, Cooke took on a different role.
“Moving to the one (point guard) full-time all game, I had to lock in, get my team organized and be a threat on offense,” she said. “Being open-minded and trying to get teammates involved was my focus, but also hunting the right shots and picking my spots.”
Wheeler added 15 points but made only 1-of-6 foul shots.
“I’m not going to say we feel invincible, but we’re moving with confidence for sure,” Wheeler said.
Thomas scored 10 in the victory. Woodley added nine points and attempted two field goals.
Shaw and Wheeler each had five steals to combine for more than half of West Virginia’s 17. Riley Makalusky made her first start at WVU with Harrison out of action.
Emma Smith led Appalachian State with 17 points, 11 of which she scored in the first half. ASU won the rebounding battle 31-28, but had 27 turnovers.
Kellogg admitted it was a challenge for his team to refocus following the acclaim the praise that followed an eight-point win over the Blue Devils inside Colonial Hall at The Greenbrier Resort. The triumph against what was then a nationally-ranked team came with WVU having only five available players for the second half after Harrison was one of four starters and six in total ejected.
“For several days, people were telling us how great, what a win, go make a 30 for 30, Greenbrier Five. We heard it. We sensed it,” Kellogg said. “If you want to be great, I hope we have other big wins. You may not have as much time [between games]. We have to learn and grow. We should have a veteran team. We had to get after them a little bit yesterday, because I didn’t think they were doing what they were supposed to do.
“I’ve heard coaches say when you feel like your team has a certain pulse, the head coach should have the opposite pulse. They’re happy and jovial and I wasn’t going to let everybody continue to tell them that they’re doing a really good job, because we have a long way to go. We’ll get better from this. I don’t know if we were completely where we were supposed to be. I didn’t think it was bad by any stretch. But we’ve also been through it now, so there’s an expectation as well.”