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LEXINGTON, Va. - The VMI basketball team returns home to face state rival Longwood Tuesday night at Cameron Hall. Tipoff will be 5 pm. The game was recently announced as the original opponent slated to visit Cameron Hall on this date, Lancaster Bible canceled its trip to Lexington due to COVID-19 issues. The Keydets and Lancers last met in the 2018-19 season in Farmville and it will be Longwood's first visit to Cameron Hall since December 9, 2017. The Keydets will be back in action after falling Saturday in their first road contest of the year at Penn State, 86-65.

A limited number of tickets are available for sale and can be purchased at vmitickets.com or by calling 540-464-7266. The game can also be watched on ESPN+ with live audio available at 3WZ 96.7 FM 3wzfm.com.

Last Time Out: Penn State 86, VMI 65
Looking to upset Big Ten opponent Penn State on the road, the VMI basketball team showed well in the first half but faltered in the second en route to an 86-65 loss to the Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon in State College, Pennsylvania. VMI (1-1, 0-0) trailed by just two at the half by a 37-35 tally, but Penn State (1-0) increased its defensive pressure and rallied in the latter half to earn the win over the Keydets. VMI shot 52 percent in the first half but just 33 percent in the second as Penn State pulled away. Senior Greg Parham led VMI with 21 points on the day while sophomore Kamdyn Curfman finished with 17. Jake Stephens, Myles Lewis and Sean Conway finished with seven points apiece in the contest. Penn State guard Jamari Wheeler led the Nittany Lions with 18 points during the game while Izaiah Brockington finished with 15. Three others ended the contest with 12 points apiece. The Keydets earned 14 second-chance points to just six for Penn State,
but the Nittany Lions tallied 34 points off turnovers that led to 18 fast-break points on the other end. Penn State's depth also played a role as the Lions logged 23 points off the bench.

Last Time against Longwood: Dec. 1, 2018
Looking to start the month of December off strong, the VMI basketball team struggled to keep pace with host Longwood as the Lancers pulled away for a 65-45 win over the Keydets on Dec. 1, 2018, at Willett Hall in Farmville, Virginia. The Lancers' Lorenzo Phillips exploded in the second half with 23 points after not scoring at all in the opening half. Longwood was spurred with momentum on two separate occasions as the Lancers went on a 15-0 run in the first half and a 17-0 run. in the second half. Longwood also logged 10 offensive boards in the game that led to 13 second chance points and shot 52 percent from the field in the second half while holding VMI to 23.5 percent shooting. VMI sophomore Myles Lewis led the Keydets with 11 points as the only one on the team in double figures. Fellow sophomores Sarju Patel and Bubba Parham scored eight and seven points, respectively.

A win over Longwood would:
--- Give VMI its tenth win in the series between the schools.
--- Move VMI to 2-0 at home on the season.

SERIES HISTORY
VMI vs. Longwood
This will be the 13th meeting between VMI and Longwood and the first since the 2017- 18 season when Longwood prevailed at Willet Hall, 65-45. VMI took the most recent meeting at Cameron Hall, 81-70 on Dec. 9, 2017. The Keydets lead the series, 9-3.

DECEMBER GETS BUSY
With the calendar flipping to December, the schedule heats up for VMI basketball as the Keydets will be playing six games over the first 15 days beginning with Tuesday night's
home match-up with Longwood.

PARHAM PRODUCES ANOTHER POINT OUTBURST
For the second straight year, senior guard Greg Parham had a 20+ scoring game in VMI's road opener of the season. Parham poured in 23 points in VMI's 2019-20 road and
season opener at East Carolina in Greenville, NC and followed with 21 points at Penn State on Saturday. Through two games, Parham leads VMI in scoring averaging 17.0
points per game.

CURFMAN ON TARGET
Sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman drained a career-high tying five 3-point shots in a 17-point effort at Penn State Saturday. It marked the fifth time in his career that Curfman had connected five times from beyond the arc. 

MR. ENERGY
Sophomore wing Louis Tang has been active on the boards over VMI's first two games and leads the Keydets in rebounding averaging 6.0 per contest. Saturday against Penn State, Tang coled VMI in rebounds with seven.

VMI PLACES SIX IN DOUBLE FIGURES SCORING
Balanced scoring highlighted VMI's season opening win against St. Andrews Nov. 25 as six Keydets reached double figures scoring including freshman guard Trey Bonham. It was the first time
since last year's regular season finale at Samford Feb. 29 that VMI had six tally 10+points in a contest. 

NEW OPPONENTS FOR 2020-21
VMI will be facing four new opponents in 2020-21 starting with the season opener against St. Andrew's on November 25. Also facing VMI for the first time this year are Regent, Hampton University and Campbellsville-Harrodsburg.

THREE SHOOTING SPREE EXTENDED?
Keydet fans are hoping for a continuation of last season's formidable shooting from beyond the arc. VMI in 2019-20 ranked second in Division I in three-pointers made averaging 10.9 per game, second only to North Florida. VMI hit 18 three-pointers against Samford in the opening round of the SoCon tournament March 6 and for the season connected on 359 threes – third most on the school all-time list.

KEYDET CAPSULE LOOK
VMI returns 10 players from last year's roster including three starters. The 2020-21 roster consists of four seniors, two juniors, four sophomores, and five freshmen.

EARL ENTERS SIXTH SEASON
VMI head basketball coach Dan Earl enters his sixth season as head coach of the Keydets and is moving into some select company in the Keydet all-time coaching ranks. Earl joins Louis "Weenie Miller (1958-64) and Charlie Schmaus (1976-82) as coaches who reached six seasons at the helm. Only Joe Cantafio (1986-94), Duggar Baucom (2005-15) and Bart Bellairs (1994—05) had longer tenures as basketball head coach at the Institute.