Shanna Rose | WV Sports Chat
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sunday will mark more than the final home game of the regular season for West Virginia. It will also be a celebration of five seniors whose paths, personalities and impacts have shaped one of the program’s most successful seasons.
Before the Mountaineers tip off against Cincinnati, the team will honor its senior class — a group head coach Mark Kellogg described as “five really just quality people.”
“We’ll recognize five seniors, all that have had different impacts on this program for sure,” Kellogg said. “But five really just quality people but we’ll celebrate them big time before the game and then hopefully relax and go play and see what we can do Sunday and just finish off the regular season.”
The timing of Senior Day comes as WVU plays its best basketball of the season and enters the final day of league play with a chance to share a Big 12 title.
“If we’re fortunate enough to beat Cincinnati and something else happens Sunday later, then awesome and you’re a Big 12 champion,” Kellogg said. “And if not, we’ll be a two seed and that’s pretty good, too.”
For Kellogg, the ceremony itself is a balancing act — honoring careers without letting emotion interfere with preparation.
“It’s not the last one by any means, which typically it hits you a little bit harder when it’s the last one or even after that when you’ve had time to reflect,” Kellogg said. “So, I’ll probably try not to have emotion unless she has some emotion that might trigger it a little bit more.”
Among the seniors being honored is point guard Jordan Harrison, whose journey with Kellogg dates back to their time together before arriving in Morgantown. The bond Kellogg and the feisty guard has goes far beyond the court.
“She’s one of my favorites that I’ve ever coached just because of the person she is and how hard she works,” Kellogg said. “And obviously she’s a talented player and to choose to come to follow me here, that meant a lot too.”
Forward Kierra “MeMe” Wheeler, a graduate transfer who joined the Mountaineers for her final season, said Senior Day brings a wave of reflection.
“Just like nostalgic honestly,” Wheeler said. “I don’t think like we really grasp how many times we’ve got the opportunity to play here to practice… So, stepping on the floor for our last time, our last home game is going to definitely be emotional.
For Wheeler the decision to come to WVU was rooted in alignment — with her goals, the program’s culture and its defensive identity.
“For me it was just more of a winning culture I was looking for,” Wheeler said. “Of course, a lot of schools, including in the Big 12 was reaching out to me, but it was more about like what aligned with my goals. I wanted to play at the next level. So, I looked at schools who were able to take players to the next level. I wanted to win and coach Kellogg, he wins and he also wins by his defense and I know I’m a defensive minded person as well.”
That connection took shape long before the season ever began.
“It was kind of the middle of the summer, a few of the returners had took us to I can’t remember it was a restaurant and like I think we got tacos or whatever and we just sat down and we had a and we had really just had a good time and I knew that this was a school for me just because I like to base I I’m big on connection,” Wheeler said. “I think basketball brings a lot of connections and I think we really sat down and got to know each other when we didn’t have to. We didn’t have to spend time with each other. We got the weekends off. People can go home on the weekends and do things like that, but I think we actually took the time to get to know each other and spend time and that’s what really bought me and let me know that I was meant to be here.”
Wheeler credits Harrison for much of the team’s successes and believes her leadership and intensity is a daily standard.
“Jordan has been amazing like just having somebody that’s passionate about basketball,” Wheeler said. “Somebody who’s willing to be kind, but also like let me know like what it is and what it isn’t. And I I can appreciate that. How hard she plays on the floor makes me play harder. When I see her up on the top of the press and she’s working her her butt off, I’m like, ‘Okay, I got to make sure my rotation is right because if if not Jordan did all that for nothing.’ So, I’m very appreciative to play with Jordan. Someone like her, even outside the court, she’s very God-fearing and she keeps me on my toes.”
As the Mountaineers prepare to close the regular season, the message remains simple for Kellogg and his team — honor the seniors, stay locked in and keep improving.
“We’ve put ourselves in the position that we’re in and all we can control is trying to beat Cincinnati and getting better,” Kellogg said.
Senior Day festivities will take place prior to Sunday’s tipoff, as WVU looks to send Harrison, Wheeler, Sydney Shaw, Célia Rivière, and Sydney Woodley out of the Hope Coliseum one final time — with both celebration and championship stakes still on the line.
Photo Credit: Shanna Rose
