West Virginia Mountaineers Basketball News: Roster Movement Continues, Alum Gets Head Coach Gig

With the transfer portal open for men's and women's basketball and coaching vacancies springing open across the country, it's a busy time in the college basketball world -- and the West Virginia men's basketball and women's basketball programs are in the thick of the action.

Here are the latest updates on the roster movement inside both programs, as well as a familiar face getting his first big coaching opportunity.

Another Mountaineer hits the transfer portal as Ross Hodge adds his second transfer and first high school commit

The roster is rapidly changing in Morgantown for the men's basketball program as WVU enters the Ross Hodge era.

On Tuesday, the news broke that the Mountaineers had added their second transfer portal commitment of the offseason. North Texas forward Brenen Lorient announced he'll be following Hodge to Morgantown for his final season of eligibility.

Lorient began his career at Florida Atlantic under current Michigan coach Dusty May and transferred to the Mean Green last season -- Lorient averaged 11.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 24.9 minutes per game for Hodge's team last year and shot 56.9% from the field. His best game came against Temple in January, where he tallied 20 points and 13 rebounds on 8-of-14 shooting.

He'll be joined by an incoming freshman from the Class of 2025, Deandre Thomas, who originally committed to Hodge at North Texas. Thomas averaged 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists this past season as a high school senior and shot 55% from the floor -- West Virginia was his only offer from a power conference program.

The pair of newcomers will not get the opportunity to play with Mountaineer veteran Ofri Naveh, who entered the transfer portal on Wednesday. Naveh played under Interim Head Coach Josh Eilert as a freshman, then redshirted this past season under Darian DeVries -- he will have three seasons of eligibility remaining. His departure leaves just one player -- Haris Elezovic -- on the roster who has seen game action for the old-gold-and-blue.

Naveh thanked the people of West Virginia and his former teammates and coaches "from the bottom of my heart," and offered his "love and gratitude" to the program and fans.

"This isn't goodbye forever -- West Virginia will always be apart of my story," Naveh posted on social media.

Mark Kellogg adds transfer from Big 12 rival, loses chunk of roster to transfer portal

The roster movement in Morgantown isn't restricted to the men's basketball team, as players are making moves into -- and out of -- the women's program too.

The Mountaineers have added an experienced Big 12 hooper in Loghan Johnson, who will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. She spent her first two seasons playing with Texas Tech, and started four games and made 37 appearances this past season for the Red Raiders. She averaged 5.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per contest while shooting 52% overall.

Johnson will help fill a role on a roster that is losing much of it's reserves, as five players who didn't see much action but helped add depth to the bench for WVU have hit the transfer portal since the season ended.

Destiny Agubata, Zya Nugent, Danelle Arigbabu, Ashala Moseberry, and Feryal Defne Atli have all officially left the program -- of the five, only Agubata has already found a new home (Georgetown). None of the five departing players averaged more than 5.7 minutes per game or 2.5 points per game.

Men's Basketball Alum Earns Horizon League Head Coaching Opportunity

Former Mountaineer men's basketball alum Rob Summers has finally earned his first Division 1 Head Coach job. It was announced this week Summers will take over the program at Cleveland State.

Summers began his playing career at Penn State before finishing his final two seasons under John Beilein in Morgantown from 2005-2007, helping the team to a Sweet 16 appearance and an NIT Championship.

He got his start in coaching as an Associate Head Coach at Division 2 Glenville State in 2011. Since, he has served a stint as Head Coach at Division 2 Urbana, and has held multiple different coaching and staffing roles at different Division 1 programs -- including a stint as an assistant coach at Cleveland State from 2019-2022.

"Rob and I not only played together at WVU but we worked together in our first coaching job as assistants," said his former teammate and current Boston Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla. "From him, I learned the importance of recruiting and relationship building. Since then, I have watched him grow in teaching the game and he has worked extremely hard to become a well-rounded coach. He has great energy, passion and desire to learn." 

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