MORGANTOWN — West Virginia women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg was standing in the middle of the court, watching his team practice from afar. The players were running around, running plays as part of summer workouts.
Something was missing. Where was guard Jordan Harrison? The little, 5-foot-6 guard that could.
“Just looking out here every day, and a little crutch isn’t hanging around every day,” Kellogg said about Harrison. “Jordan was phenomenal.”
Harrison came over with Kellogg from Stephen F. Austin, where she played with him for a season. Harrison played for the first three seasons of Kellogg’s tenure at WVU. Harrison played point guard and was the facilitator on both offense and defense. She averaged over 13 points per game in those three seasons and had just around five assists per game.
Her impact was felt a lot more on the defensive side of the ball. Harrison was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year after last season and was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Big 12 tournament. She had 3.2 steals per game last season, capitalizing on Kellogg’s defensive press.
But, most importantly, Harrison, like Kellogg said, was the familiar face he knew when he took the step up from Stephen F. Austin to WVU. She was the “crutch” and old reliable. But now, she’s graduated and in the professional ranks.
“We grew so much together in our four years, but that’s what happens,” Kellogg said. “That’s natural. It’s not the first time we’ve graduated a point guard that we’ve had to fill. We’ll find a new one that can fill that role.”
It’ll be impossible to find another Jordan Harrison. Kellogg said there are a lot of options. He brought in five new guards/wings to play out on the perimeter, including a pair of talented smaller guards.
It helps in the recruiting process to have successful smaller guards, Harrison and J.J. Quinerly, who were both in the WNBA.
“Having small guards with J.J. and Jordan, we’ve had success with those in recruiting,” Kellogg said. “A lot of coaches won’t recruit because of a lack of size. We’ve kind of stayed away from that, or said, ‘Hey, if you can still play and produce, we know how to play small guards.’ It could be part of the pitch again that we’ve had production with them. Those two went to the WNBA, so if you want to come here and be a small guard, or you are a small guard, this might be a pretty good place to come play.”
George Mason transfer guard Kennedy Harris has similar attributes to Harrison. She’s a 5-foot-7 senior and was bringing the ball up during the limited portion of WVU’s open summer media practice. Last season, Harris had 74 steals and made a team-high 57 3-pointers. She played in 85 games while making 59 starts over three seasons and averaged 12.6 points per game.
Kennedy was forcing turnovers, even before Kellogg had installed the press.
“Kennedy can guard,” Kellogg said. “We haven’t even put the press and those things in, but she just naturally, when you watch her, just has that instinct. But she had quite like 90, I think, steals or something along those lines a year ago, so you know she’s kind of got that in her DNA.”
Pitt transfer Nylah Wilson is 5-foot-9 and was a highly-rated recruit before heading to college. She only played one season with the Panthers, where she didn’t see too much action, but she was a 5-star prospect, according to ESPN. Wilson was rated as the No. 30 recruit by ESPN and No. 34 by On3.
As a sophomore, Wilson might not have a major impact this season, but she easily could down the road.
“Nyla Wilson is an elite-level defender as well,” Kellogg said.
The two small guards won’t be a 1-to-1 replacement, but Kellogg tried his best to fill the gaps left behind by the graduating class of the Big 12 tournament championship team, and the team that hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.
Kellogg will miss Harrison, but eventually, this time was going to come, and Kellogg had to move on from the familiar face.
“They won’t ever be Jordan Harrison,” Kellogg said. “They’ll be different than that, but we’ll figure it out. We always have, I think, we’ve got a lot of options.”
