LEXINGTON, Va. - The VMI basketball team returns home to face SoCon rival UNCG in its final Saturday home game of the 2019-20 season . The game will be Senior Day and is being presented by Price Automotive with tipoff at 1 pm. Pregame ceremonies will be held for Keydets Will Miller, Tyler Creammer, and Garrett Gilkeson prior to the introduction of the starting lineups.  VMI will be looking to extend its win streak to two games after holding off Western Carolina, 74-71, Wednesday night in Cullowhee, North Carolina. UNCG carries a five-game winning streak into Lexington after outlasting Wofford in OT, 83-79. VMI and UNCG will be meeting again after opening their SoCon season play November 24 in Greensboro with the Spartans prevailing, 74-63. Saturday's game will be carried on ESPN3.
 
Last Time Out: VMI 74, Western Carolina 71 - Feb. 19, 2020 - Cullowhee, N.C.
Freshman guard Travis Evee scored 25 points and VMI held off a late Western Carolina rally to post a 74-71 Southern Conference road win Wednesday night at Ramsey Center. Joining Evee in double figures was sophomore center Jake Stephens who finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. Freshman guard Kamdyn Curfman and senior guard Garrett Gilkeson added 11 and 10 points, respectively.  Forward Omni Steeger scored 18 points to lead Western Carolina while guard Mason Faulkner added 17 points, all in the second half. WCU forward Carlos Dotson posted his 16th double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds. VMI twice held eight point leads in the final 2:14 of regulation only to see the Catamounts mount rallies and make it a one possession game. The Keydets won for just the second time in nine games this season decided by five points or less. VMI hit 13 three-point shots - the 14th time this season they had 10 or more from beyond the arc in a game. The contest had 13 lead changes and seven ties before VMI took the lead for good following back-to-back corner threes by freshman guard Lewis Tang with just under eight minutes remaining. Evee posted his seventh 20+ point game this year.
 
Last Meeting with the Spartans: UNCG 74, VMI 63 - Nov. 24, 2019 - Greensboro, N.C.
Trailing by 13 at the half, the VMI basketball team rallied in the second half to cut the deficit to one with three minutes to play but ultimately fell by a 74-63 score to host UNCG in Greensboro, North Carolina. VMI (2-6, 0-1) freshman Kamdyn Curfman cut the UNCG lead to 64-63 off a three-pointer with 3:24 on the clock, but the Spartans (5-2, 1-0) went on a late 10-0 run hitting six of nine from the charity stripe to pull away at the end.UNCG raced to a 43-30 advantage by the break but the Keydets gradually clawed back into the game during the second half to give the Spartans a scare. Gilkeson tied his then career-high of 21 points set last year at Virginia Tech as he went 6-8 from the field and 4-5 from three-point range toward his total. He also went 5-6 from the free-throw line and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.VMI clamped down on defense in the second half, as well, allowing the Spartans to shoot just 27 percent in the second half compared to 64 percent from the first 20 minutes of play. UNCG won a crucial factor in second-chance points by scoring 16 points following offensive rebounds to VMI's five.Curfman finished the game with 15 points as the only other Keydet in double figures. Junior Myles Lewis contributed nine points in the contest.
 
A win over UNCG would:
--- Give VMI its fourth conference win of the year, matching last year's total
--- End a seven-game skid to the Spartans and be the first win over UNCG since an 86-72 victory on Feb.11, 2016
 
SERIES HISTORY
VMI vs. UNCG
This will be the 27th meeting between the teams that first met in 1979. UNCG leads the series,18-8, and has taken the last seven meetings. VMI last defeated the Spartans, 86-72, in Lexington on February 11, 2016.
 
STEPHENS SETS NEW HIGH IN REJECTIONS
Sophomore center Jake Stephens tied  a career-high four blocks against Western Carolina Feb. 15 matching the four blocks he had at USC Upstate Dec. 29 and he now leads the team in that category with 25 after posting 19 the entire 2018-19 season.
 
EVEE TOPS 20 AGAIN
Freshman guard Travis Evee posted his seventh 20-point+ game this year after scoring 25 points at Western Carolina Feb. 19 and posting 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. 4th 71-58 loss at Duquesne after first reaching the 20-point mark against Presbyterian Nov. 11. Evee currently leads the team in scoring at 12.8 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 12-of-15 from the floor over his last four games for a 80.0% mark. Lewis leads the team in FG% among SoCon stat qualifiers with a 46.7% success rate.
 
CURFMAN BACK IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Freshman guard Kamdyn Curfman has reached double-figures in his last three games after netting 11 points at Western Carolina Feb.19  and 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
VMI's 74-71 win at Western Carolina Feb. 19 ended a trend of close losses and moved VMI to 2-7 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.