CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The VMI basketball team travels to Cullowhee, N.C. for its penultimate regular season road contest as it faces Western Carolina Wednesday night in Culowhee, N.C. The Keydets will be looking to snap a two-game skid after falling at home to ETSU, 72-67 last Saturday at Cameron Hall. Western Carolina, vying for a top-six seed and first round bye in the upcoming SoCon tournament, returns home after dispatching Wofford , 80-74, in Spartanburg Saturday night. The Keydets and Catamounts meet for the second time this season after WCU prevailed 97-85 January 8 at Cameron Hall. The VMI-WCU game will be carried on ESPN+.
 
Last Time Out: ETSU 72, VMI 67 - Feb. 15, 2020 - Lexington, Va.
Despite leading by a 38-32 score at the half, the VMI basketball team faltered in the second half to allow the visiting ETSU Bucs a come-from-behind 72-67 victory Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall. With the loss, VMI is now 1-7 on the season in games decided by five points or less. The Bucs who won their fifth straight game took advantage of 28 VMI personal fouls and finished the game going 31-35 from the charity stripe, including an 11-11 mark by ETSU guard Daivien Williamson. Several Keydets played well including freshman Travis Evee, who finished the game with 23 points on 7-12 shooting and went 5-for-9 from three-point range. It was his sixth 20-point game of the season. Fellow freshman Sean Conway recorded his first career double-double as he finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds with six of the 10 boards coming on the offensive end. VMI played well in the opening half as the Keydets opened the game going 14-30 from the field (47 percent) and converted seven of 18 three-pointers to gradually build the 38-32 lead at the break. Freshman Kamdyn Curfman finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting while Myles Lewis and Greg Parham both contributed eight points apiece.
 
Last Meeting with the Catamounts: Western Carolina 97, VMI 85 - Jan. 8, 2020- Johnson City, Tenn.
Three players scored 20 points each as Western Carolina University defeated the VMI men's basketball team 97-85 in a Southern Conference game at Cameron Hall. VMI's Garrett Gilkeson filled up the stat sheet for the second-straight game. The senior guard posted team-highs of 18 points, six assists and two steals to go with eight rebounds. He made all nine of his free-throw attempts and VMI got to the free throw line 21 times, tying for the third-most on the year. Six Keydets reached double figures in a balanced offensive attack, with Jake Stephens and Myles Lewis each netting 13. Freshmen Travis Evee and Kamdyn Curfman had 11 points apiece and Greg Parham had 10 with four assists. Tyler Creammer narrowly missed a double double with nine points and a team-high 10 boards. Carlos Dotson paced Western Carolina with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Mason Faulkner had 20 points and 10 rebounds while Matt Halvorsen hit four three-pointers on his way to 20 points. Tyler Harris added 13 points and Onno Steger had 10 points and six rebounds. WCU shot 32-of-64 from the floor (50%) and 11-of-28 (39%) from behind the three-point stripe.
 
A win over Western Carolina would:
--- Give VMI four wins over the last five games between
--- Give VMI its second road win of the season
 
SERIES HISTORY
VMI vs. Western Carolina
This will be the 62nd meeting between the teams that first met in 1953. WCU leads the series, 34-27. VMI took the regular season sweep over the Catamounts last year after defeating them in Lexington, 91-83, on January 19 and 83-78 in Cullowhee, N.C. VMI also defeated the Catamounts, 96-83 in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, N.C. The Catamounts topped the Keydets, 97-85, in the first meeting this season on January 8 at Cameron Hall.
 
CONWAY GETS FIRST DOUBLE-DOUBLE
VMI freshman guard Sean Conway produced his first career double-double against ETSU February 15 when he scored 12 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds. It was VMI's fourth double-double game of the year with Tyler Creammer, Garrett Gilkeson, Jake Stephens achieving the other such efforts this season.
 
EVEE TOPS 20 AGAIN
Freshman guard Travis Evee posted his sixth 20-point+ game this year after scoring 23 points against ETSU February 15. Evee earlier tallied 25 points with a season-high tying six 3-pointers against Samford Jan. 4. The freshman has nailed six treys in four separate games this season. Evee also scored 25 points with six treys at USC Upstate Dec. 29 and closed out the month of December averaging 21.2 points and leading VMI in scoring all five December games. Evee fired in 20 points to lead all scorers against Virginia Tech Dec. 21 and tallied all of his points in the second half while matching a career-high six three-pointers against the Hokies. Evee scored a career-high 26 points in the Dec. 4th71-58 loss at Duquesne after first reaching the 20-point mark against Presbyterian Nov. 11. Evee currently leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game average. He also made his first career start against Ferrum Dec. 11 and has started every game since that debut.
 
LEWIS ON THE MARK
Junior guard Myles Lewis is 11-of-14 from the floor over his last four games for a 78.6% mark. Lewis leads the team in FG% among SoCon stat qualifiers with a 46.4% success rate.
 
CURFMAN BACK IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Freshman guard Kamdyn Curfman has reached double-figures in his last two games after netting 10 points against ETSU Feb. 15. Against Chattanooga Feb. 12, Curfman hit double figures for the first time since January 8 when he connected on 5-of-9 shooting including three 3-point baskets and finished with 13 points against the Mocs.
 
ANOTHER CLOSE ONE
The 72-67 setback against ETSU February 15 moved VMI to 1-7 in games settled by five points or less this season. VMI in January suffered back-to-back losses by a total of five points against Mercer and Furman. VMI also took three losses by a combined six points over its first five games of the season before breaking through with an 89-84 double- overtime win November 17 vs. UC Davis in the Red Wolves Classic.