LEADING OFF – Fresh off a blistering 3-point shooting display in its home opener last Tuesday night, the VMI Keydets travel to Clinton, S.C. to face the Presbyterian College Blue Hose in a non-conference road test at Templeton Arena. Tipoff will be 7pm. Although VMI and Presbyterian have not played since the 2019-20 season, the two teams will become well acquainted with each other over the next two weeks as they are also slated to face each other in a multi-team event in New Orleans November 24 in the UNO Classic. The Keydets and Blue Hose also played regularly from 2008 through 2014 when both were members of the Big South Conference. The Keydets enter Friday night's game 1-0 after overwhelming Carlow University 111-55 in the season opener Tuesday night at Cameron Hall. VMI torched the nets from the perimeter with 22 made 3-pointers against the Celtics which was just two school of the VMI single game record of 24 set against Southern Virginia in 2008-09. The Keydets also placed seven in double figures scoring including two by freshmen newcomers. 
 
LAST TIME OUT – VMI hit 22 three-pointers Tuesday night to cruise to a 111-55 victory over Carlow University in the Keydets' season opener in Cameron Hall in non-conference play. The 22 treys were just two short of the school record of 24, set in the 2008-09 campaign against Southern Virginia. The visiting Celtics trailed just 13-11 after the first six minutes of play, but a 37-7 Keydet run made the score 50-18 late in the first half. The Keydets led 58-23 at intermission and scored 25 of the first 28 points after halftime to forge an 83-26 advantage. VMI drained 22-of-40 shots from three-point distance (55%). VMI had seven players reach double figures in scoring while 11 got on the scoreboard. Senior center Jake Stephens recorded 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in just 14 minutes on the floor, hitting 4-of-5 from deep. Tanner Mans had 14 points and seven rebounds while Sean Conway and Brennan Watkins each had 12 points and combined for seven three-pointers. Kamdyn Curfman nailed three threes and ended with 13 points and Cooper Sisco came off the bench for 16 points and was a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the three-point arc. Trey Bonham had 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals while Honor Huff posted nine points and four assists. Lewis Rowe contributed five points, nine rebounds and nine assists and Sam Wolfe had seven points and five rebounds.  Marcus Millen paced Carlow (1-2) with 17 points and six rebounds. Jaden Willis had 10 points and Alex Gangji scored six.
 
LAST MEETING WITH PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE – November 11, 2019 -  JC Younger drilled a corner three-pointer with 0.5 seconds left in overtime to lift visiting Presbyterian College to an 80-77 win over the VMI at Cameron Hall. The Keydets fought back from a 14-point second-half deficit to lead 65-61 with five minutes left. The Blue Hose tied the game at 65 and seemingly had the game won in regulation on a three-pointer from Younger with 3.8 seconds remaining. VMI freshman Kamdyn Curfman banked home a running three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime. Keydet freshman Travis Evee nailed two treys and sophomore Jake Stephens converted on a traditional three-point play to give VMI a 77-74 lead with 2:13 left in OT. Cory Hightower hit the game-tying three-pointer to set up Younger's last second heroics. The Blue Hose nailed 3-of-5 three-pointers in the game's extra five minute overtime session. 
        Evee paced VMI with a career-high 20 points, connecting on 6-of-9 shots from distance. Curfman hit four treys and finished with 12 points, and Stephens posted nine points, a team-high 10 rebounds, and two blocked shots. Ben Drake tallied game-highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds for Presbyterian (1-1). Hightower had 23 points and six caroms, while Younger hit three three-pointers, two in overtime and the third at the end of regulation.
 
A WIN OVER PRESBYTERIAN WOULD –
--- Snap a two-game skid in the series and be the first win over PC since November 18, 2017.   
--- Be VMI's first road win of the season. 
 
 
VMI vs. PRESBYTERIAN
This will be 17th meeting between the schools that were once conference rivals in the Big South Conference from 2008-2014. It will also be the sixth out of the last seven seasons the teams have faced each other in a non-conference setting. VMI leads the over head-to-head 9-7 and PC has won three of the last five meetings.
 
MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – VMI hit 22 three-pointers in the 111-55 win season opening win over Carlow November 9 continuing the prolific perimeter shooting of the past two seasons. The 22 makes from beyond the arc were two away from the school record of 24 set against Southern Virginia in 2008-09. VMI in 2020-21 ranked second in the nation in 3-pointers made per game for the second straight year and averaged 10.8 per game ranking only behind Oral Roberts with 11.1 per contest.  The Keydets drained 10 or more threes in 17 games last 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. In 2019-20, VMI also ranked second in Division I in three-pointers made in 2019-20 averaging 10.9 per game, second only to North Florida. VMI hit 18 three-pointers against Samford in the opening round of the 2020 SoCon tournament March 6 and for the season connected on 359 threes – third most on the school all-time list.
 
NEWCOMERS HAVE IMPACT IN OPENER – The season opener against Carlow November 9 saw several strong college basketball debuts for several of the new faces on the VMI roster as freshmen accounted for 11 of the 22 made three-pointers in the game. Two freshman reached double figures scoring and another missed reaching the 10-point mark by just one point.  Freshman guard Copper Sisco led all scorers with 16 points and was a perfect four-of-four beyond the arc. Freshman guard Brennan Watkins pumped in 12 points and was four-of-six in 3-point shooting against the Celtics. Freshman guard Honor Huff scored nine points while freshman center Lewis Rowe grabbed nine rebounds and dished out nine assists in his college debut.
 
SEVEN IN DOUBLE FIGURES – The 111-55 win over Carlow November 9 had seven Keydets reach double figures scoring. Last season, VMI twice had six double figures scorers in a game (St. Andrew's and Campbellsville-Harrodsburg).