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LEADING OFF - VMI basketball will open a three-game road swing to close out the month of January when it travels to Greensboro, N.C. to face the UNCG Spartans. Tipoff will be 7 pm at the Greensboro Coliseum. VMI enters the game off a resounding 87-61 win over Western Carolina Wednesday night at Cameron Hall that pushed the Keydets to 9-8 overall and even in the SoCon at 4-4. VMI broke open a two-point game at halftime by outscoring the Catamounts 48-24 in the second half to claim the victory. UNCG (11-5, 6-2 SoCon) is the hottest team in the SoCon and has won five straight games following a home 81-68 victory over Mercer Wednesday night. VMI senior guard Greg Parham continued his torrid January scoring run with 23 points against Western Carolina on Wednesday – his seventh consecutive 20+ point game and ninth of the season. Last 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 – The VMI basketball team outscored visiting Western Carolina University 48-24 in the second half Wednesday night to roll to an 87-61 Southern Conference victory from Cameron Hall. The Keydets are 9-1 at home this season, with the only loss by just two points.The Keydets trailed by seven points (35-28) late in the first half but finished on an 11-2 run to lead 39-37 at intermission. The Catamounts tied the game at 41 before a 13-0 VMI surge, fueled by eight points by sophomore guard Sean Conway, opened a double-digit lead that the hosts would not relinquish. VMI shot 61 percent (19-31) from the floor after intermission, including a 7-12 mark (58%) from three-point range. The Keydet defense held Western Carolina to just 24 percent (8-33) shooting overall and 18 percent (2-11) from distance over that same span. For the game, VMI shot 50 percent (31-62). Senior Greg Parham scored a game-high 23 points with six rebounds. He drilled 5-of-7 three-point attempts and has scored over 20 points in seven straight contests and nine overall this season. Jake Stephens had 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Myles Lewis contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Conway nailed four three-pointers and finished with 14 points and Kamdyn Curfman had 10 points, four assists and two steals. Trey Bonham filled up the stat column with nine points, a season-high seven assists, three steals and no turnovers. Mason Faulkner paced WCU (7-8/0-6 SoCon) with 15 points and six rebounds. VMI defeated WCU for the fifth time in the last six meetings
 
LAST MEETING WITH UNCG – February 22, 2020 - Looking for a second straight SoCon victory on Senior Day, the VMI basketball team fell by a close 71-68 score to visiting UNCG at Cameron Hall. VMI (8-21, 3-13) led by a slim 38-35 margin at the half and led by as many as 11 with 8:26 left in the game but the Spartans (23-6, 13-3) caught a second wind and pushed ahead in the closing moments to pull out the come-from-behind victory over the Keydets. Freshman Travis Evee led the Keydets with 16 points on the afternoon while senior Garrett Gilkeson and freshman Sean Conway both scored 13. Evee finished 5-12 shooting for the day including three treys. Freshman Kamdyn Curfman, who finished with nine points, also poured in three treys while Conway scored nine of his 13 points from three-point range. UNCG's Isaiah Miller was instrumental in leading the comeback for the Spartans as he finished with 23 points on 8-20 shooting and one three-pointer. Angelo Allegri scored 11 and Kyrin Galloway came away with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
A win over UNCG would:
---Give VMI its first road win of the year
---End an eight-game skid to UNCG in the series
 
VMI vs. UNCG
This will be the 28th meeting between the teams that first met in 1979. UNCG leads the series, 19-8, and has taken the last eight meetings. VMI last defeated the Spartans, 86-72, in Lexington on February 11, 2016.
 
PARHAM REVS UP IN CONFERENCE PLAY – Senior guard Greg Parham has stepped up his play in Southern Conference action averaging 24.9 points in eight conference contests which tops the league. Parham tallied 23 points vs. Western Carolina Wednesday night for his seventh straight 20-point game and now has nine games of 20 or more points this season. The last Keydet to string together seven straight 20+ games was Reggie Williams in 2007-08. Parham also tops the SoCon in 3-point percentage with a 51.9% mark. On Tuesday, the Richmond, Va. native 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 first 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 Jan.20 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 is currently ranked fourth in the SoCon in rebounds (7.6), tied for third in blocks (1.7) and fourth in free throw shooting at 82.7%.
 
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 27, VMI is second in the SoCon in three-point percentage (39.8%) and in 3FG made per game (11.3) which is fourth in Division I. The Keydets have drained 10 or more threes in 12 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 79.8% success rate which ranks seventh 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 17 games, Curfman is hitting 42.6 % in 3-point shooting which ranks sixth in the SoCon. 
 
NOTEWORTHY – VMI is currently 8-1 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 9-1 home start is the best home record to start a season since 2013-14 …the Keydets are 9-0 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).
 
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 January 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 seventh 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.