West Virginia head women’s basketball coach was reflective and proud of his team on Monday night.

The Mountaineers fought to the bitter end against No. 1 Iowa, before they fell 64-54, ending their season.

Kellogg talked about how far this team has come in his first year on the job and his thoughts on his team as his first year at WVU is over.

“I’m so proud of our team, the resiliency, that’s kind of been our word all year. For them to be able to showcase what we’ve known but I think a lot of people maybe didn’t know about West Virginia women’s basketball, so hopefully there were some eyes on this game tonight so people across the country got to see how special this group is,” Kellogg said in his opening statement.

“So just so proud of our group. I am just tremendously proud to be the head coach at West Virginia to coach this group of girls.”

For West Virginia, they were put on the national stage and they battled all night long. The entire college basketball world had their focus on this game, and Kellogg said he thinks WVU showed what they are all about.

I hope you can appreciate the resilience and the toughness and everything we showed in a crazy environment, when the whistle didn’t go our way,” Kellogg said. “I haven’t seen anything yet, but I assume people are pretty proud of that performance, especially in our state, but even outside of our state, I think people can be proud of what we did.”

Kellogg and the Mountaineers were new to this stage. Only one player on the roster had played in a sweet sixteen, and this was the first time since 2021 WVU had advanced in the tournament.

“I think we’re close. I think we’ve been close all year, but no one wants to give us, it doesn’t feel like, a whole lot of credit,” Kellogg said.

“I don’t think we were an 8 seed. I don’t think we got all the credit we deserved through the regular season. Our kids have battled. We’ve been one of the best defensive teams in the country. I’m glad tonight we got to showcase that so maybe people will start to understand what we are and what we’re about.

“So, yeah, I do think we’re close. I think we need more depth, we need experience. We hadn’t played in one of these games. We didn’t have anybody on our roster, other than Kyah Watson who had played and been to a Sweet 16. This was new for us. It was new for me. Phenomenal environment. I’ve said now that I’ve been here that I want to get that thing in Morgantown. If we’re going to continue to do this in women’s basketball and give the top four seeds that kind of environment, I want to create that in Morgantown.”

Kellogg added that he doesn’t want this to be the end, but wants this to be the start of something for West Virginia women’s basketball. He recognizes who they represent and wants to play off the people they play for.

“We represent an entire state. That’s what people don’t know about West Virginia. We have no pro sports. We’re the only Power 5 in the entire state. The Mountaineer fans are rabid. They just love their Mountaineers. I want to play off of that. We are hard working and blue collar and those things. I want a team that represents the state. I’m certainly proud of them tonight because I think we did that,” Kellogg said. “I don’t want this to be the finality. I don’t want this to be, when we talk about advancing, I don’t want it to always be one round. Not complaining about that in year one, but certainly would like to advance a little bit further.”