MORGANTOWN — There were a lot of unknowns about the West Virginia women’s basketball team coming into this season. There was a good group of returning players, but a new coach brought in a new system and a number of new faces as well.
Following a successful trip to the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico where the team went 3-0 last week, the Mountaineers are feeling like they know themselves a lot better.
“We got a lot of information about our team,” first-year head coach Mark Kellogg said Wednesday. “Some good, some bad, some right there in between. You get a lot of information when you play that many games in a short period of time.”
The Mountaineers (6-0) played three games in three days in San Juan, defeating George Washington 54-51, Charlotte 84-56 and Southern Illinois 73-55.
“It was mostly basketball focused because the three games in three days doesn’t allow you to do a whole lot outside of basketball,” Kellogg said. “Of course getting the three wins was the business side of it and we were able to accomplish that.”
WVU played blistering defense during the week, holding all three teams below 60 points and well below 50% shooting.
“We came out with three wins and that was the overall goal of the trip,” senior guard Lauren Fields, who transferred from Arizona, said. “I think that trip helped us find our identity.”
The team has also turned opponents over at a high rate this season. WVU averages 14.2 steals per game while opponents average 24 total turnovers. The Mountaineers have so far turned that into 26 points per game off of turnovers.
Fields leads WVU with 19 steals, but four Mountaineers are already in double-digits just six games into the season.
“The offense is still too inconsistent for me,” Kellogg said. So at times we’re good and at times not so good. We’re turning people over on defense which is leading to some offense, but we’re also missing layups at a pretty high rate in transition. If we have the ability to turn people over, we need to convert those a little bit more than what we’re doing.”
The other thing the WVU defense has excelled at is defending three-pointers. Opponents are shooting just 17.8% from three against WVU and averaging just 2.7 made threes per game.
“It’s probably not sustainable at the rate we’re playing right now,” Kellogg admitted. “It’s something you want to do, the analytics say don’t give up layups at the rim and don’t give up open threes. We may give up certain other areas sometimes, but those are things we are okay with.”
“We make people play faster,” Fields offered. “They’re playing at a fast speed so they’re not able to take their time, get set and get off catch-and-shoot three-point shots.”
West Virginia returns to the Coliseum on Saturday for a game against St. Bonaventure (ESPN+). Tip-off was moved up to noon so as to not conflict with the men’s soccer team’s NCAA quarterfinal match against Loyola Marymount at 2 p.m.
The Mountaineers will then play a surprising Penn State team on Monday (6 p.m./ESPN+). The Nittany Lions are 6-1 with just a one-point loss to No. 8 USC blemishing their record.
