Virginia Military Institute Athletics issued the following announcement on Jan. 7
VMI (9-6, 2-1) returns home to Cameron Hall Saturday to face the UNCG Spartans (8-5, 0-1) in the first of two regular season match-ups between the conference rivals this season. Tipoff will be 1 pm and tickets are buy one, get one free for Youth Day. The Keydets are looking to rebound from Wednesday's night's one-point road loss to ETSU, 80-79, which handed VMI its first conference setback of the season after opening the league slate with two wins. VMI hopes to continue its home court success having won all five home games at Cameron Hall this season and 16 of the last 17 dating back to the start of the 2020-21 season. VMI is excelling in several statistical categories entering the UNCG game and leads the SoCon in 3-pointers per game (12.7-2nd in D-1), free throw shooting (.795), field goal percentage defense (.374), 3-point field goal percentage (.289), and defensive rebounds (30.7) and tied for first in assist/TO ration (+1.5). UNCG dropped its SoCon opener, 58-54, to Furman in Greensboro Wednesday in the first game for the Spartans since December 16 after having several games canceled/postponed due to COVID issues. Graduate transfer De'monte Buckingham leads the team in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (7.8).
LAST TIME OUT - Down by a 47-30 count at the half, the VMI basketball team rallied to score 49 points in the second half but came up a point shy as the Keydets fell 80-79 to host ETSU Wednesday night at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tennessee. Looking for its seventh win over the past eight games and hoping to snap a 12-game sked against the Bucs, VMI rallied in the second half to claw back from a 19-point deficit and gradually cut into ETSU's lead. The Keydets eventually accomplished the feat by tying the score at 63-63 with 8:29 to play following a Tanner Mans three-pointer. The teams played point-for-point a few minutes before ETSU built a gradual seven-point lead at 76-69 with 3:20 left on the clock. VMI's Trey Bonham hit a trey to make the score 76-72 for the Bucs, but VMI ran out of time to complete the rally as ETSU escaped with the 80-79 victory. Senior center Jake Stephens finished with his 11th career double-double as he ended up with 29 points and 15 boards in a complete 40 minutes of play. Curfman finished the game with 17 points while Tanner Mans and Trey Bonham also came away with double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. David Sloan led the Bucs with 20 points on the night while Ledarrius Brewer ended up with 19 and 13 points, respectively. ETSU took advantage of 21 offensive rebounds and nine VMI turnovers and converted them into 16 points during the contest.
LAST MEETING WITH UNCG – February 27, 2021 – VMI shut down the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) perimeter game to upset the first-place Spartans 88-77 in a Southern Conference contest from Cameron Hall. The Keydet defense harassed UNCG into shooting just 7-33 (21%) from three-point range for the game, including a 1-14 (7%) mark in the first half. In comparison, VMI drilled 14-of-29 (48%) from distance to improve to 11-1 at home. VMI started the second-half strong, pushing a 43-40 halftime edge to a 64-48 advantage at the 11:42 mark after a 21-8 run. The Spartans could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way. Senior Greg Parham delivered a game-high 25 points, including 16 in the second half, to go with a season-high nine assists. It was his 11th 20-point game this season. Sophomore Kamdyn Curfman nailed five three-pointers for the sixth time this season and finished with 20 points to tie his career-high. Senior Myles Lewis had his fifth career double-double with 14 points, a game-high 10 rebounds and two blocks. Isaiah Miller had 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals for UNCG.
A WIN OVER UNCG WOULD ...
--- Be VMI's seventh win over the last nine games
--- Move VMI to 3-1 in league play
--- Be the 17th home win over the last 18 games played at Cameron Hall
VMI vs. UNCG
This will be the 30th meeting between the teams that first met in 1979. UNCG leads the series, 20-9, and has taken the last nine of the last 10 meetings. VMI ended a nine-game skid against the Spartans by prevailing in the last meeting, 88-77, at Cameron Hall on February 17, 2021. In games played in Lexington between the teams, the series is tied 8-8.
STEPHENS SWEEPS AWARDS – Senior center Jake Stephens rang in the New Year with a shower of accolades this week after being named the Lou Henson College Insider National Player of the Week and both SoCon GEICO Player of the Week and December Player of the month. In December, Stephens Averaged 21.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game and shot 57.6 percent from the floor in helping VMI to a 4-1 record during the month. With a season-high 29 points and 15 rebounds against ETSU Wednesday, Stephens has posted five double-doubles over the last six game and has 11 for his career. Earlier, Stephens scored season-high 28 points against Gardner-Webb December 11 to become the 43rd player in VMI history to reach that mark. Stephens also equaled his career bests in rebounds (16) and blocked shots (6) against the Bulldogs and was named GEICO Southern Conference Player of the Week December 13. Stephens is currently tied with teammate Kamdyn Curfman for the team scoring average with an 18.0 PPG (4th best in SoCon) mark and has five 20+ point games this year. He also paces the squad in rebounding (8.9-T-1st in SoCon) and free throw percentage (85.0%). His 2.2 blocks per game rank second in the SoCon.
CURFMAN STELLAR FROM PERIMETER –Senior guard Kamdyn Curfman matched his career-high in 3-pointers in a game when he nailed six at Wake Forest December 14. After matching his career-high of five 3-pointers in a game 12 times over the first two-plus years of his career, Curfman initially reached the six 3-pointer mark in VMI's 73-67 win over Central Arkansas November 25. Curfman currently is tied for with teammate Jake Stevens for the team lead in scoring with 18.0 points per game which is fourth in the SoCon and has scored in double figures in all 15 games with five 20+ games including a career-high 27 points at Marist November 20. He leads the the SoCon lead in 3FG per game with 3.9 per contest and has hit 5+ 3FG in seven games this season.
MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – VMI currently ranks second in the nation in three-pointers per game averaging 12.7 per contest and have hit 10+ threes in 13 games this season. VMI hit 22 three-pointers in the 111-55 win season opening win over Carlow November 9 continuing the prolific perimeter shooting of the past two seasons. The 22 makes from beyond the arc were two away from the school record of 24 set against Southern Virginia in 2008-09. VMI in 2020-21 ranked second in the nation in 3-pointers made per game for the second straight year and averaged 10.8 per game ranking only behind Oral Roberts with 11.1 per contest. The Keydets drained 10 or more threes in 17 games last season. In 2019-20, VMI also ranked second in Division I in three-pointers made averaging 10.9 per game, second only to North Florida. That season, VMI hit 18 three-pointers against Samford in the opening round of the 2020 SoCon tournament and for the season connected on 359 threes – third most on the school all-time list.
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