MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The No. 22 Mountaineers look to maintain its early-season success this weekend at the Florida Sunshine Classic at Rollins College in Orlando, Fla.
“It’s going to be interesting,” WVU coach Mike Carey said. “We’re going to see two different types and styles of play here, and that’s great going into the Big 12.”
West Virginia (7-1) opens the round-robin tournament against No. 19 Michigan State (7-2) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and ends the weekend against unranked Syracuse Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday is the first time the Mountaineers and Spartans will ever meet. Led by 13-yaer coach Suzy Merchant, MSU routed Morehead State, 93-48, on Sunday before the tournament kicked off Friday. The Spartans then fell to Orange in the first round of the Sunshine Classic, 77-63.
Syracuse had four players in double digits with senior guard Gabrielle Cooper leading the group with 19 points. Junior guard Kiara Lewis and sophomore forward Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi each had 16. MSU was paced by sophomore guard Nia Clouden with 20 points.
The upset will certainly give Syracuse momentum heading into the match up with WVU, even with the Mountaineers holding an all-time 14-9 record over Orange. The two teams last faced in the opening round of the 2012 Big East Tournament with WVU pulling away for a 63-48 win.
West Virginia enters the tournament off a 72-55 swamping of Norfolk State on Sunday thanks to Tynice Martin’s season-high 22 points.
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