SPARTANBURG, S.C. - After securing its first SoCon win of the season at home last Saturday, VMI Basketball returns to the road Wednesday to face conference defending champion Wofford in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Tipoff at the Richardson Indoor Arena will be 7:00 p.m. The game, pitting the top two free throw shooting teams in the SoCon, will be the first of two regular season meetings between the schools as VMI will host the Terriers at Cameron Hall on February 5. VMI will close out the month of January with a home game with Mercer this Saturday, January 25, and a road date at Furman on Wednesday, January 29.
 
The game tips at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+ (ESPN app / espn.com).
 
Last Time Out: VMI 88, The Citadel 79 - January 18, 2020 - Lexington, Va.
Sophomore center Jake Stephens tallied 18 points, 11 rebounds and four three pointers Saturday to push the VMI basketball team to an 88-79 Southern Conference victory over The Citadel. Stephens' 18 points (a season high) and 11 boards were game highs and it was the first career double-double for the Bunker Hill, W. Va. native. Senior guard Garrett Gilkeson also had a big afternoon with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot for VMI. Myles Lewis and Sean Conway each had 12 points and Greg Parham posted 10 points, nine assists and five steals. Tyler Creammer had eight points, five rebounds and two steals and the Keydets' had 22 assists on 29 made baskets. The Citadel held a 24-19 lead with 10:36 remaining in the first half. A 13-3 VMI run over the next three minutes made the score 32-27 and the Keydets led the rest of the game. VMI held a 48-42 advantage at halftime and led by as many as 15 in the second half before holding off a late Bulldog charge for the win. The VMI victory was its' seventh-straight over the Bulldogs at home in Cameron Hall - a string dating back to the 2013-14 season. Parham's nine helpers are his highest against a D1 opponent.
 
Last Meeting with the Terriers: Wofford 95, VMI 84 - Feb. 14, 2019 - Spartanburg, S.C.
A furious second half rally wasn't enough against the Southern Conference leader as VMI fell 95-84 to Wofford February 14, 2019 at Richardson Indoor Stadium. Wofford won its 13th straight game to run its SoCon league mark to 14-0, but not without a fight as the Keydets trimmed a 28-point second half deficit to single digits twice before regulation expired.VMI sophomore guard Bubba Parham pumped in 30 points –his sixth game of hitting or surpassing the 30-point threshold this season while sophomore guard/forward Myles Lewis scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Keydets. Fellow sophomores Sarju Patel and Greg Parham contributed 14 and nine points, respectively. Wofford (22-4, 14-0 SoCon) got a game high 19 points from guard Storm Murphy – 13 coming in the opening half – while shooting guard Fletcher Magee labored through a 6-for-14 shooting night, but made it count with five 3-pointers to finish with 18 points.  Both teams rode points off turnovers to spark key runs in each half. In the first half, Wofford converted 12 VMI turnovers into 20 points to build a 53-28 halftime lead but in the second half the Keydets turned the tables by parlaying 10 Wofford turnovers into 23 points. Wofford shot 15 of 20 from 3-point range for 51.7% as seven different Terriers connected from beyond the arc. The Keydets (7-18, 1-12) shot a season-best 57.6% from the floor for the game after going 22 of 34 in shooting (64.7%) in the second half.
 
A win over Wofford would:
--- Snap a 13-game skid against the Terriers and be VMI's first victory in the series since the 2000-01 season.
--- Give VMI back-to-back conference wins since the final two games of the 2018-19 regular season.
 
Series History: VMI vs. Wofford
This will be the 23rd meeting between the teams that first met in 1970. Wofford leads the series, 16-6, and has taken the last 13 meetings including wins 95-84 (Spartanburg, SC), 90-76 (Lexington, Va.), and 99-72 in the Southern Conference tournament last year. VMI last defeated the Terriers, 69-60, on February 10, 2001, in Lexington. 
 
STEPHENS WITH BIG DAY 
Sophomore Jake Stephens delivered his first career double-double Saturday in VMI's 88-79 win over The Citadel Saturday with a season-high 18 points and career-high 11 rebounds. Stephens also equaled his career-best in 3-pointers in a game with four – a mark that he reached for the third time in his career.
 
POINTS SURGE
The 88 points scored by the Keydets against The Citadel Saturday was the most against a conference opponent this season and tied for the second most against a Division I opponent this year.