Kamdyn Curfman vs Wofford 4
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Men's Basketball

Keydets Host SoCon Military Rival The Citadel Saturday

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LEXINGTON, Va. - VMI basketball's two-game home stand continues Saturday when the Keydets face Southern Conference military college rival The Citadel in the first of two regular season meetings this season. Tipoff at Cameron Hall will be 1 pm and the limited seating at Cameron Hall has been sold out for the game. The Keydets will be looking to bounce back after falling to Wofford 80-78 Wednesday night which handed them their first home setback of the year. Saturday's game with The Citadel will be the second contest of a seven-day stretch that has the Keydets taking the court four times. The game projects plenty of scoring and will feature two of the top 3-point shooting teams in the nation as The Citadel leads Division I in made threes per game with 14.2 per game while VMI is ranked fourth in the country with 11.3 per game.  The Citadel is also ranked second in the country in scoring averaging 92.2 points a game while the Keydets place near the top 50 at a formidable 79.8 points a game. VMI carries a 6-6 overall mark and 1-2 league record into the weekend while The Citadel was handed its first loss of season by Furman, 94-88, Wednesday afternoon in Charleston. The Bulldogs (8-1, 1-1 SoCon) are coached by former VMI head coach Duggar Baucom who guided the program for 10 seasons from 2005 through 2015.
 
Last Time Out: Wofford 80, VMI 78 - January 13, 2021
Senior Storm Murphy drilled a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left on the clock to lift the Wofford College basketball team to an 80-78 victory Wednesday evening at VMI in Southern Conference play. The Keydets trailed 77-72 with three minutes left, but VMI senior guard Greg Parham converted a driving layup in traffic and netted a three pointer to tie the game with two minutes remaining. The game remained tied at 77 all until Sean Conway made one of two free throws with 33 seconds left and retrieved his own miss to allow VMI to maintain possession. After a Terrier defensive stop, Murphy nailed the game winner and a VMI desperation shot from midcourt fell short. VMI had several big offensive performances. Parham hit 7-of-8 three pointers for a season-high 29 points, and freshman Trey Bonham scored a career-high 20 points (14 in the second half) in his first career start on 7-of-10 shooting with three threes, five rebounds and five assists. Junior Jake Stephens had 11 of his 13 points in the second half and added six assists to tie a career high. Conway tied for the game-best with nine boards and also had six points. Parham's seven treys was a career high and he has scored 20 points or more four times this season. Murphy had a team-high 23 points for Wofford (7-4/4-1), hitting five three pointers.
 
Last Time against the Bulldogs: VMI 75, The Citadel 64 - February 9, 2020
Junior guard Greg Parham scored a career-high 36 points to lead VMI to a 75-64 win over The Citadel at McAlister Field House. Parham converted 13-of-14 attempts from the floor including all six 3-point tries to shatter his previous career scoring high of 23 points established in the season opener against East Carolina on November 5. His only miss came on a baseline pull-up jumper early in the second half after he had canned his first nine shot attempts. Parham also dished out a team-high five assists. VMI outscored The Citadel 46-10 in bench points thanks in part to the Parham scoring outburst. The Citadel placed four in double figures scoring as forward Derek Webster, Jr. and guard Tyson Batiste each scored 14 points.
 
A win over The Citadel would:
----Give VMI its fourth straight win over The Bulldogs
----Move VMI to 7-1 at home this season
 
 
VMI vs. The Citadel
This will be the 115th meeting between the teams that first met in 1921. The Citadel leads the series, 58-56, but the Keydets have claimed the last three meetings including the regular season series last year, 88-79 in Lexington, and 75-64 in Charleston.
 
PARHAM REVS UP IN CONFERENCE PLAY – Senior guard Greg Parham has stepped up his play in Southern Conference action giving the Keydets a scoring boost. Parham scored a season-high 29 points against Wofford Jan. 13 also ringing up a career-high seven three-pointers in eight attempts. Parham has set season highs in scoring the last two outings, has produced four 20 point+ games this year, and is averaging 24.0 PPG in three conference contests which is second in the league. He also tops the SoCon in 3-point percentage with a 51.4% mark.

BONHAM SHINES IN STARTING DEBUT – Freshman point guard Trey Bonham scored a season and career high 20 points against Wofford Jan. 13 in his first start of the year which gave him his seventh double figures scoring game of the year. Against the Terriers, Bonham also set a new career-high in assists and matched his career best of five rebounds.

CONWAY ACTIVE ON GLASS – Sophomore guard Sean Conway grabbed a season best nine rebounds in the January 13 game against Wofford which was one shy of his top mark of ten boards against ETSU on 2/15/20.

LONG RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of January 13, VMI is second in the SoCon in three-point percentage (39.2%) and second in 3FG made per game (11.3) which is fourth in Division I. The Keydets have drained 10 or more threes in eight games this season. VMI hit a season-best 58.8% in 3-point shooting when they nailed 10 of 17 shots from beyond the arc against Chattanooga January 2.

TOPS FROM THE STRIPE - Through games of January 13, VMI is tied for first in the SoCon SoCon in free throw shooting percentage converting at an 79.2% success rate.

EARL GETS #50 – The 84-79 win over Chattanooga January 2 marked the 50th win at VMI for head basketball coach Dan Earl.
 
PARHAM AND STEPHENS COMBINE FOR 50 – Senior guard Greg Parham and junior center Jake Stephens each scored 25 points to lead VMI to the 84-79 win over Chattanooga January 2. It was Parham's third 20-point+ game of the year and a season high scoring output while Stephens was one point shy of his career-high 26 points at Gardner-Webb December 18. The Chattanooga game was also the first time VMI had two 20-point scorers in a game since January 4, 2020 when Travis Evee (24) and Garrett Gilkeson (22) surpassed the mark against Samford at Cameron Hall. The Keydets repeated the feat in their next game when Greg Parham (29) and Trey Bonham (20) reached the 20-point plateau.

CURFMAN EXPANDS IMPACT – VMI sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman not only matched his season high 17 points for the fourth time this season in the win over Chattanooga Jan. 2, he also dished out a career-best five assists for the second straight game after handing out five at Samford December 30. Curfman has also established himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in the SoCon and has hit a career-best five 3FG in three games this season and six for his career. Through 12 games, Curfman is hitting 44.9 % in 3-point shooting which ranks fifth in the SoCon. 

NOTEWORTHY – VMI is currently 6-1 in games when leading at the half and also when outrebounding a foe…the 6-0 home start was the best home record to start a season since 2013-14 when VMI won its first eight games at Cameron Hall…the 84 points against Chattanooga January 2 matched the D-I season point high mark also set against Hampton December 13.

BLOCK PARTY FOR STEPHENS – Junior center Jake Stephens set a new career-best in blocks when he rejected five Samford shots December 30. Stephens currently ranks fourth in the SoCon with 23 blocks (1.9/game).

STEPHENS CONTINUES TO ROLL – Junior center Jake Stephens chalked up his second double-double of the season and third of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds against George Mason December 21. Stephens previously set a new career-high in points when he tallied 26 against Gardner-Webb December 18 surpassing his previous high of 24 set against Samford in the first round of the 2020 SoCon tournament. Against the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs, Stephens hit seven of 15 shots including two 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds while hitting 10 of 11 from the line. Stephens has hit 28 of his last 32 free throw attempts over the last five games and is third in the SoCon in free throw shooting at 85.1%.

LEWIS DECEMBER DOUBLE STREAK – Senior forward Myles Lewis had his string of three straight double-doubles end on December 15 after 12 points and five rebounds against CU-Harrodsburg. Lewis earlier had posted 14 points and 11 rebounds Sunday against Hampton that followed 17 points and 10 rebounds against Greensboro College Dec. 8. Lewis started the string with 13 points and 12 rebounds in the Dec. 3 game at 16th ranked Virginia Tech. Lewis currently leads the Keydets on the boards averaging 7.4 per game which ranks fourth in the SoCon.

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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Players Mentioned

Travis Evee

#3 Travis Evee

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Garrett Gilkeson

#2 Garrett Gilkeson

G
6' 4"
Senior
Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

G
6' 5"
Sophomore
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

G
6' 1"
Sophomore
Myles Lewis

#15 Myles Lewis

G
6' 5"
Senior
Greg Parham

#5 Greg Parham

G
6' 4"
Senior
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

C
6' 10"
Junior
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

G
6' 0"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Travis Evee

#3 Travis Evee

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Garrett Gilkeson

#2 Garrett Gilkeson

6' 4"
Senior
G
Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

6' 5"
Sophomore
G
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

6' 1"
Sophomore
G
Myles Lewis

#15 Myles Lewis

6' 5"
Senior
G
Greg Parham

#5 Greg Parham

6' 4"
Senior
G
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

6' 10"
Junior
C
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

6' 0"
Freshman
G