RECOGNITION — WVU point guard Jordan Harrison was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. - Benjamin Powell

MORGANTOWN — At one time in her basketball career, Jordan Harrison was the lightning-quick point guard with all the skills to play college basketball, but standing just 5-foot-6, she didn’t have the height most major coaches were looking for.

Enter Mark Kellogg, the head coach at emerging mid-major Stephen F. Austin at the time. Where other college coaches took a pass on Harrison, Kellogg wanted her to pass the ball for his team.

“It definitely meant a lot to me for coach Kellogg to trust and believe in me at a young age,” Harrison begins the story. “I’m really thankful for him choosing me, especially with me being a small guard out of Oklahoma. Coach Kellogg has good eyes.”

Good eyes, indeed. That was four years ago now. The duo made the journey to Morgantown – Kellogg as the newly hired coach in 2023 and Harrison followed through the transfer portal – and they now have WVU (24-6) entering the Big 12 tournament as the No. 2 seed with the possibility of winning the tournament for just the second time in school history. The Mountaineers will open play in the quarterfinals, at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“We’ve certainly been through it,” Kellogg said of his relationship with Harrison. “I’ve said she’s been one of my favorites that I’ve ever coached, just because of the person she is and how hard she works. She’s a talented player.

“For her to choose to follow me here, that meant a lot. She did it without even visiting. She committed and then came on a visit after she had already said she would come.”

That decision led Harrison to being named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday, the third year in a row one of Kellogg’s players has won the award. Former WVU guard J.J. Quinerly won the previous two.

Harrison, who is also a semifinalist for the national defensive award, led the Big 12 this season with 94 steals. She’s actually sixth all-time at WVU in career thefts with 261, even though Harrison has only played at WVU for three seasons.

“It’s just natural,” Harrison said. “If I focus on that, I don’t think I would get any.”

Harrison was also named to the all-Big 12 first team after helping WVU finish 14-4 in conference play. She enters the Big 12 tournament averaging 12.9 points per game and is fifth in the league averaging 5.4 assists per game.

WVU’s Gia Cooke and Kierra Wheeler were named to the honorable mention team. Cooke led the Mountaineers in scoring at 14.9 points per game, while Wheeler averaged 13.7 points and 7.4 rebounds.

All of the accolades led WVU to its best regular season since 2021, when the Mountaineers also took second in the Big 12 standings. The reason for that just may have come down to trust, and Kellogg’s good eyes.

“There was so much trust from (Harrison) in me,” Kellogg said. “Hopefully, I’ve reciprocated it back with her. We’ve been through some battles. Yeah, I’m pretty fond of that kid.”