MORGANTOWN — Kaden Metheny has been playing basketball his entire life.
“I started playing basketball as early as I can remember,” he said. “I have always been in love with sports and basketball was the one that stood out the most for me. I was drawn towards watching college and NBA games right from the get go.”
Metheny’s father, Gregg, played football at WVU and he was a big influence on Kaden’s basketball career.
“He was definitely influential on me falling in love with sports,” Metheny said. “He would encourage me to play as many sports as I could and went above in beyond about making sure I was in the gym or on the court working on my craft. I wouldn’t be the player I am today if he weren’t by my side throughout it all.”
Metheny graduated in 2020 from University High and is a Morgantown native. In the fall, he will be a sophomore at Bowling Green.
Metheny had an outstanding freshman season — he was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team after averaging 10.2 points, 3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
“Being named to the MAC All-Freshman Team was definitely a surreal feeling,” he said. “Being able to play Division-I basketball is a blessing in itself, so being on the all freshman team was very humbling.”
He scored 29 points at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 23 for his season high. He scored in double figures five straight games to end the season.
“Going into my freshman year, I had no idea what to expect, especially with COVID, so being able continue to play the game of basketball was a blessing,” Metheny said. “All the individual success has no meaning toward the end goal that I want to achieve, which is making the NCAA tournament. So I would say my freshman year wasn’t entirely a success because we failed to achieve that goal.”
As Metheny alluded to, COVID did not make things easy.
“Things with COVID made everything 10-times harder,” he said. “A lot of games just felt like a practice or a scrimmage. It was also hard to have a life outside basketball because you had to stay in the team bubble.”
Metheny is excited about his sophomore season.
“I can’t wait to have our first game in front of a bunch of fans and my family being able to be in attendance,” he said.
Metheny also had a stellar career as a Hawk. He averaged 24.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists as a senior and led UHS to a 22-3 record and the top seed in the state tournament before the season was shut down due to COVID.
“The senior season being cut short is something I will never be able to get over,” Metheny said. “The group of guys that I played with in high school are life long friends that I will forever cherish and to not know that is was our last game together truly does hurt. We all believed we were going to be back to back state champs, which has not been done in the state of West Virginia a lot at all. We would have gone down as one of the best teams to ever play.”
He won the 2020 Bill Evans award, which is presented to the best high school boys’ basketball player in West Virginia by the state Sports Writers Association . He had offers from 17 Division I schools and as a junior in 2018-19, he helped lead the Hawks to their first state championship in school history.
“Winning the state championship is a moment that will never come short of giving me chills,” Metheny said. “Being able to be the first state champs at UHS for basketball is so surreal and means so much.
“UHS will forever hold a special place in my heart. I will always be thankful for coach (Joe) Schmidle in trusting me as a small little freshman.”
Metheny is majoring in business and enjoys hanging out with friends in his spare time.
“I love just hanging with my guys and chilling. I also love getting in the gym and working out,” he said.
Kaden is the son of Heidi and Gregg Metheny. He has an older brother, Nathan, as well as a younger brother, Treyson.
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