Keydets Host Western Carolina Wednesday in Lexington

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LEADING OFF - VMI basketball will close out its January home schedule at Cameron Hall when it plays host to the Western Carolina Catamounts Wednesday night at Cameron Hall. The Keydets will be looking to continue their good fortune on their home court as they carry an 8-1 home record into the mid-week contest. VMI wrapped up a busy week of action last Saturday with its fourth game over nine days and pushed the Mercer Bears to the limit before falling 83-80. Currently, VMI stands 8-8, 3-4 SoCon. Western Carolina enters Wednesday's game 7-7 and 0-5 in the league. The Catamounts were sidelined from Jan. 2 through Jan. 13 and had four games postponed due to COVID issues. VMI senior guard Greg Parham continued his torrid January scoring run with 26 points against Mercer on Saturday – his sixth consecutive 20+ point game and eighth of the season. On Tuesday, Parham was named SoCon Player of the Week for his outstanding play against Furman and Mercer and received the honor for the second consecutive week.

LAST TIME OUT – Redshirt junior forward Felipe Haase scored 23 points and hit two 3-point shots in the final 1:38 of regulation to lead Mercer to an 83-80 Southern Conference win over VMI Saturday afternoon in Macon, Georgia. The Keydets fell despite 26 points from senior guard Greg Parham who notched his sixth straight 20-point game and eighth of the season. The Bears twice built nine-point leads midway in the second half and led 63-54 after a Ross Cummings jumper with 9:55 left. VMI responded with an 11-3 run and pulled within 66-65 when senior forward Myles Lewis converted a 3-point play with a dunk and free throw at the 6:20 mark. The teams battled for the remainder of regulation and the game saw four ties and six leads changes over the final three minutes. Parham had twice given VMI one-point margins following a pair of free throws at 2:23 (76-75) and a jumper at 1:58 (78-77). Haase rammed in a 3-pointer to get the Bears ahead 80-78 with 1:38 left, but Keydet freshman guard Trey Bonham answered with a layup to tie it at 80-80 at 1:21. Haase knocked in another three-pointer twenty seconds later on Mercer's ensuing trip down the floor to put the Bears up for good. The Keydets came up empty on their last offensive possessions as Parham missed a 3-point try that was rebounded by Mercer's Kamar Robinson with just under a minute left. Keydet guard Kamdyn Kurfman rebounded a Jeff Gary 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession, but Parham came up short on a step-back 3-point hoist from the top of the key as the final seconds expired.

LAST MEETING WITH WESTERN CAROLINA – February 19, 2020 - 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 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. VMI hit 13 three-point shots - the 14th time 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.

A win over Western Carolina would:

---Move VMI to 9-1 at home – best since 2013-14

---Move VMI to 4-4 in conference play

VMI vs. Western Carolina
This will be the 63rd meeting between the teams that first met in 1953. WCU leads the series, 35-27. VMI has claimed four of the last five games between the teams. The schools spilt last year's meetings with each prevailing on the road – WCU won 97-85 in Lexington on January 8, 2020 and VMI took the rematch 74-71 in Cullowhee February 19, 2020.

PARHAM REVS UP IN CONFERENCE PLAY – Senior guard Greg Parham has stepped up his play in Southern Conference action averaging 25.1 points in seven conference contests which tops the league. Parham tallied 26 points at Mercer Saturday for his sixth straight 20-point game and now has eight games of 20 or more points this season. He also tops the SoCon in 3-point percentage with a 50.5% mark. Parham on Tuesday was named SoCon Player of the Week for the second consecutive week for his play against Furman and Mercer. Against Furman, Parham scored 22 second half points to finish with 24 in the 74-73 win over the Paladins and averaged 25.0 points and shot 50% from the floor. He becomes the firs Keydet since Jayson Bell in 1997-98 to earn SoCon POTW in consecutive weeks.

STEPHENS CONTINUES TO ROLL – Junior center Jake Stephens added another double-double January 20 in the win against Furman with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. He now has four double-doubles on the year. Earlier, Stephens scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the 110-103 victory over The Citadel January 16 and earlier posted double-doubles against George Mason (14 points, 10 rebounds) December 21 and Hampton (11 points, 12 rebounds) December 13. Stephens has hit 49 of his last 57 free throw attempts over the last nine games and is fourth in the SoCon in free throw shooting at 83.6%.

CONWAY ERUPTS vs. THE CITADEL – Sophomore guard Sean Conway produced a career day in VMI's 110-103 win over The Citadel when he posted bests in points (25), rebounds (13) and 3-pointers (7). Against the Bulldogs, Conway hit on 8 of 14 from the floor and was seven of 10 beyond the arc in almost 37 minutes of action. Conway has grabbed 21 rebounds over the past two games after being credited with nine against Wofford January 13.

IRON KEYDETS – A quick scan of the box score in VMI's 110-108 win over The Citadel Jan. 16 revealed something quite remarkable. VMI starters accounted for 108 of the 110 points scored and all of the starting five logged at least 33:17 minutes of action. Topping the workload was sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman who was on the floor for 39:23, followed by Greg Parham (38:03), Sean Conway (36:51), Jake Stephens (34:10), and Trey Bonham (33:17).

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. Bonham added double figures outings in his next four games, all starts, to give him 11 double-figures games on the year.

LONG RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of January 25, VMI is in the SoCon in three-point percentage (39.8%) and tied for second second in 3FG made per game (11.3) which is sixth in Division I. The Keydets have drained 10 or more threes in 11 games this season. VMI hit a season-best 58.8% in 3-point shooting when they dropped in 10 of 17 shots from beyond the arc against Chattanooga January 2.

TOPS FROM THE STRIPE - Through games of January 25, VMI is first in the SoCon in free throw shooting percentage converting at an 80.1% success rate which ranks sixth in the nation.

EARL GETS #50 – The 84-79 win over Chattanooga January 2 marked the 50th win at VMI for head basketball coach Dan Earl.

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 16 games, Curfman is hitting 43.2 % in 3-point shooting which ranks third in the SoCon.

NOTEWORTHY – VMI is currently 7-1 in games when leading at the half and 7-2 when outrebounding a foe…the Furman win was the first game this year the Keydets won after trailing at the half…the 8-1 home start is the best home record to start a season since 2013-14 …the Keydets are 8-0 this season when leading with five minutes in regulation…VMI produced at least two 20+ point scorers in three consecutive January games (Chattanooga, Wofford, The Citadel).

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 third in the SoCon with 28 blocks (1.8/game).

LEWIS BACK IN ACTION – Senior forward Myles Lewis had his strongest outing since returning and scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds against at Mercer Saturday. Lewis missed three January games (Furman, Wofford, The Citadel) before returning to action Jnauary 20 against Furman. In December, Lewis produced three straight double-double games against Virginia Tech, Greensboro College, and Hampton. Lewis currently ranks second on the Keydets in rebounding averaging 6.8 per game which ranks eighth 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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