In achieving its first Big 12 Championship in nine years, West Virginia is hopeful and of the belief it’s done enough to do something the program hasn’t in 34 years — host a game in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mountaineers earned one of their best wins this season as well as the highly-coveted Big 12 crown Sunday with a 62-53 triumph over top seed and then-10th-ranked TCU at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
WVU (27-6) will discover its opponent and the location for its opening-round NCAA Tournament matchup Sunday.
“I don’t want this to be the defining moment. I want this to continue” said third-year WVU head coach Mark Kellogg, who is 77-22 in his tenure with the Mountaineers. “They’ve been on a mission. We certainly think we’ve done enough to get some home games in Morgantown, so I hope it plays out that way for this group, because I think they’ve absolutely earned that.
“We don’t find out until next weekend, so until then, we’ll regroup and get them rested. We’ll be excited for whatever comes our way, regardless if that’s home or on the road, but we certainly think we’ve earned the right. A couple days off, we’ll get them back on track and keep where we’re at. I want to keep tempo, flow and pace and keep a ball in their hands, but rest for sure, because they’ve earned that right.”
The top 16 overall seeds are awarded host sites for the first and second rounds.
West Virginia’s only time hosting in the NCAA Tournament came in 1992 when the Mountaineers were a No. 4 seed and played one home game in what was then a 48-team event. WVU was also a No. 4 seed as recently as 2021, but the NCAA Tournament was played exclusively in a “bubble” in San Antonio due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kellogg’s previous two teams at WVU entered the NCAA Tournament with a 24-7 record and were a No. 8 and No. 6 seed, respectively.
This year’s group has won six straight and 10 of 11, while the win over the Horned Frogs allowed WVU to avenge two of its four Big 12 regular-season losses, including one on a Marta Suarez three-pointer at the buzzer in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers are 4-3 in Quad 1 games and 9-3 in Quad 2 matchups, and despite losing two of three matchups with TCU, each one represents the Horned Frogs’ three lowest-scoring outputs this season (51, 59 and 53).
“Coach Kellogg is one of the best defensive coaches in the country,” TCU head coach Brian Campbell said. “The game before against Colorado, neither team got to 50. It’s not like they did something tonight that’s different. It’s really hard to score on these guys and they do a really good job. They deserve the credit.”
While increasing its chances of playing in Morgantown next week, the victory was also special within the program for a multitude of reasons.
Point guard Jordan Harrison was moved to tears in a national television interview moments after the game went final. Harrison began her career playing under Kellogg at Stephen F. Austin before and followed the head coach to West Virginia. She scored 21 points Sunday and 46 throughout the Big 12 Tournament, which she was named Most Outstanding Player of days after being honored as Big 12 Defender of the Year.
Look what the Big 12 championship means to Jordan Harrison 🥹
She dropped 21 PTS and 6 REB in the win over TCU 👏 pic.twitter.com/M8vxIRfcXG
— ESPN (@espn) March 8, 2026
“It felt like a dream a little bit,” Harrison said. “I was super happy and excited and very emotional about it. I’m proud of my team that we got that opportunity.”
Harrison also totaled 10 steals throughout the Big 12 Tournament and at least three in each contest, giving her 25 games this season with multiple steals.
“It’s buy-in from everybody, so you become an elite defensive team, because your point guard who sets this tone commits to that,” Kellogg said. “It makes your job as a coach a little bit easier. We’ve become one of the best defensive teams in the country and it’s not by accident. It’s because Jordan Harrison has been leading this thing for three years.”
Harrison was part of the five-player all tournament team along with teammate Sydney Shaw. Shaw scored 17 points against the Horned Frogs, 19 in a quarterfinal round win over Arizona State and 41 across the three games.
She was 9 for 22 on three-pointers in Kansas City and is second in the Big 12 with 87 threes and tops among the league leaders in three-point field goals with an impressive percentage of 41.6.
While Shaw is her team’s fourth-leading scorer at 12.1 points, she is not far behind the 14.7 scoring average of team leader Gia Cooke.
“Sydney Shaw was fantastic in this tournament and earned this right,” Kellogg said. “It’s absolutely crazy to me she didn’t make an all-conference team. She led our league in three-point shooting. She’s a senior on the second-best team and for her to get this and be on the all-tournament team is pretty special.”
Shaw admitted there was extra motivation in Kansas City from what she perceived as a snub pertaining to the lack of postseason honors.
“I felt very disrespected when I heard the list,” Shaw said. “It made me check myself and realize I have to show people. Having my team behind me is a great motivator for all that.”
For Kellogg, there was impact in the accomplishment taking place in Kansas City after his mom passed away on New Year’s Eve of 2025.
“Both my parents are from Missouri. She would’ve been here,” Kellogg said while seated beside Shaw and Harrison. “She loved every second of this. That’s some of the emotions. You work so hard and spend so much time and you miss out on family. The rest of my family is here and it’s special, but it’s on my mind a little bit being back here and how much she would be loving this. Super thankful, a little emotional, but mostly proud of these two.”