VMI and Virginia Tech Renew Rivalry Thursday

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LEXINGTON, Va. - The VMI basketball team resumes action Thursday night as it travels to Blacksburg, Virginia to face long time state rival Virginia Tech in a game that will tipoff at 8 pm at Cassell Coliseum. The Keydets enter the contest off an 84-71 victory over Longwood Tuesday night at Cameron Hall which raised their season mark to 2-1. VMI has been a frequent visitor to Cassell Coliseum in recent years and Thursday night will be the eighth time over the last nine years that the Keydets have made the trip down I-81. Virginia Tech will be one of two ACC opponents VMI will face in the month of December with Wake Forest scheduled December 21 in Winston-Salem.

Last Time Out: VMI 84, Longwood 71
Sophomore Sean Conway scored a career-high 19 points Tuesday as VMI team defeated visiting Longwood University 84-71 in non-conference play. Conway, a 6-5 guard from Fairfield, Conn., hit 8-of-14 shots and netted 12 of his points after intermission. He collected five rebounds with three steals and hit a pair of three pointers from distance in addition to a traditional three-point play in a key late game situation. VMI led 37-36 at halftime but didn't pull away until midway through the second half. An 11-4 run turned a 55-53 edge into a nine-point lead with 9:33 on the game clock. A 6-0 surge five minutes later boosted the Keydet lead to 74-62 with 4:34 remaining and VMI held a double-digit edge the rest of the way. Senior guard Greg Parham scored a game-high 22 points, hitting four three-pointers and adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Jake Stephens posted 13 points and seven rebounds while Kamdyn Curfman had 11 points. Myles Lewis scored six and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and Louis Tang had nine points and eight rebounds. Juan Munoz led the Lancers (0-2) with 18 points and four rebounds, and Justin Hill had 15 points and six assists. The stingy VMI defense held Longwood to just 6-of-26 shooting (23%) from three-point land, including a 2-13 mark (15%) in the game's final 20 minutes. The Keydets had a 46-34 rebounding advantage and had an edge from the free-throw line, sinking 20-23 (87%) to the visitors 13-22 (59%).

Last Time against Virginia Tech: Dec. 21, 2019
Despite trailing by as little as six with under a minute to play, the VMI basketball team's rally came up a little short as host Virginia Tech escaped with a 64-55 victory over the Keydets at Cassell Coliseum. VMI trailed by a 26-18 count at the half but fought valiantly in the second half and scored 37 points in the second to never allow the Hokies to pull away. The Keydets were not granted a single free throw in the entire 40 minutes of competition, marking the first time that has happened in a game since Southern Conference realignment in 1954. VMI also committed 22 turnovers, a season high, after averaging only 11.1 per game on the young season. Freshman Travis Evee led the Keydets with 20 points for the afternoon as he converted five threes, and fellow freshman Kamdyn Curfman also hit five three-pointers to finish with 15 points during the game. Hunter Cattoor led Virginia Tech with 14 points on the afternoon while Isaiah Wilkins finished with 13.

A win over Virginia Tech would:
--- Be VMI's first win over the Hokies since the 2004-05 season.
--- Give VMI its first road win of the season.

SERIES HISTORY
VMI vs. Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech leads the all-time series 93-43 and has taken the last eight meetings between the teams. VMI's last win over Virginia Tech was a 72-68 win on December 4, 2004 at Cameron Hall.

PARHAM TOPS 20 AGAIN
Senior guard Greg Parham had a 20+ scoring outing in back-to-back games for the first time in his career when he scored a season-high 22 points which included four 3-pointers Dec. 1 against Longwood. That followed with 21 points at Penn State on Nov. 28. Through three games, Parham leads VMI in scoring averaging 18.7 points per game which ranks 5th in the SoCon.

CONWAY CAREER-HIGH PACES KEYDETS IN LONGWOOD WIN
Senior guard Sean Conway scored a career-high 19 points, including 12 in the second half, to lead VMI past Longwood 84-71 Tuesday night at Cameron Hall. Conway also grabbed five rebounds and had three steals on the evening.

LEWIS ACTIVE ON GLASS
Senior forward Myles Lewis grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds in VMI's win over Longwood Dec. 1 which was just one off his career-best 12 boards posted at Western Carolina on Feb. 23, 2019.

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 of the month beginning with the Dec. 1 home match-up with Longwood.

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 fourth time that Curfman had connected five times from beyond the arc.

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.

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