VMI Basketball Opens Season at Home against Carlow

LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI Keydets will open the 2021-22 season at home Tuesday night when they take on Carlow University in Lexington. Tipoff will be 7 pm and the game will be carried on ESPN+. The contest will be the first of 31 regular season scheduled games and the first of 13 on the docket at Cameron Hall this year. It will be a busy first week for the Keydets with a road date at Presbyterian College Friday night in Clinton, South Carolina. The Keydets will be looking to build on last year's momentum after going 13-12 overall for their first winning season since 2013-14 and 7-7 in SoCon play for their highest finish in league standings since 2014-15.

VMI capped the season with a spirited run through the SoCon tournament in Asheville upsetting Furman in come-from-behind fashion in the quarterfinals and reached the semifinals for the first time since 2003 before falling to Mercer in the final game of the year. The Keydets return three starters off last year's team and five freshmen join the squad in 2021-22. Tuesday night's opponent, Carlow University, a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania founded in 1929, has already played two games and is 1-1 on the season after defeating Pitt Greensburg Friday night, 84-82 and falling at Penn State Greater Alleghany, 94-81, on Saturday. Tuesday's game will be the first meeting between the schools.

LAST TIME OUT – VMI's breakthrough 2020-21 season came to an end as the Keydets fell to Mercer, 73-59, in the semifinals of the 2021 Southern Conference Championships March 7 at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The Keydets struggled from three-point range in the loss as they hit just four of 25 attempts throughout the game and could not keep pace with the Bears (18-10, 8-9). While both teams struggled in the first half shooting, the Bears raced to a 33-26 halftime lead and kept the same pace during the second half to outscore the Keydets, 40-33, and gradually built a 17-point lead with only minutes to play en route to the victory. Mercer grabbed 12 offensive rebounds throughout the night which led to a 13-3 second-chance points advantage to aid the Bears to victory. The Bears also benefited from bench play as 20 points came from the reserves. Senior Myles Lewis finished the game with a double-double by scoring a season-high 24 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds in his final game as a Keydet. Fellow senior Greg Parham went 5-14 from the field and yielded 12 points while Jake Stephens and Kamdyn Curfman scored nine points apiece.

LAST MEETING WITH CARLOW – First Meeting

A WIN OVER CARLOW WOULD ...
--- Move VMI to 6-0 in its last six season openers played at Cameron Hall.
--- Make the Keydets 3-0 in season openers at home under Dan Earl.

STEPHENS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SOCON - Coming off a spectacular junior season, VMI senior center Jake Stephens was named to the 2021-22 Preseason All-Southern Conference team as announced by the league October 26 from the Southern Conference Basketball Media Day presented by Ingles in Asheville, North Carolina. Last season, Stephens earned All-SoCon second team honors after averaging 14.9 points - second on the team - and led the Keydets in rebounding (7.8). He ranked 12th in the SoCon in scoring and third in rebounding and had five double-doubles in 2020-21, including a career-high 33 points and 11 rebounds in win over The Citadel January 16. The Bunker Hill, West Virginia, native also had double-doubles against Hampton (11-12), George Mason (14-10), Furman (15-14), and The Citadel (19-16). He scored in double figures in 20 games, including 14 straight toward the end of the season when he averaged 18.4 points over that stretch.

MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – For the second straight year, VMI ranked second in the nation in 3-pointers made per game 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 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.

EARL NAMED SOCON COACH OF THE YEAR - VMI head basketball coach Dan Earl was named 2020-21 SoCon Coach of the Year by both the league coaches and media, the league office announced prior to last year's SoCon tournament in Asheville. Earl, now in his sixth season as head coach of the Keydet program, has led VMI to a 13-12 overall mark and 7-7 record in conference competition last season while securing a #6 tournament seed. The 13 victories are the most since 2013-14 and the seven SoCon wins are the most since 2014-15. VMI went 11-1 at home for its most successful season at Cameron Hall in seven years. Earl became the first VMI coach to receive SoCon Coach of the Year since Bart Bellairs in 1994-95.

CURFMAN FINDS TOUCH – VMI junior guard Kamdyn Curfman scored in double figures in the last seven regular season games averaging 15.3 points over that span. The sophomore matched his career scoring high with 20 points in the win over UNCG February 17 and hit five three pointers for the third consecutive game, sixth time on the season, and ninth for his career. Curfman has also established himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in the SoCon was third in the SoCon in 3FG (40.7%) and fourth in 3FG made (2.8).

STRONG FROM THE STRIPE - VMI was second in the SoCon in free throw shooting percentage in 2020-21 converting at an 77.2% success rate which ranked 26th in the nation.

CONWAY DOUBLES UP AGAIN – Junior guard Sean Conway produced his third double-double of the season (fourth career) in the SoCon tourney win over Furman March 6, 2021 with 12 points and 12 rebounds. He earlier added second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds at Western Carolina February 10. Conway experienced a career day in VMI's 110-103 win over The Citadel Jan. 16 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 averaged 8.6 rebounds over the last eight games of the season and also ranked fifth in the SoCon in 3FG percentage at 40.4%.

BONHAM SPARKS LINEUP – Sophomore point guard Trey Bonham earned 2020-21 SoCon All-Frfeshman honors scored a season and career high 20 points against Wofford Jan. 13 in his first start of the year and averaged 11.7 points in seven starts. Bonham, who dished out a season and career-high seven assists against Western Carolina January 27, finished the 2020-21 campaign with 14 double-figures games on the year.

NOTEWORTHY LAST SEASON –VMI knocked off three residing SoCon teams last season at the time of play (Furman, Wofford, UNCG) …the 11-1 home start was the best home record to start a season since 2013-14 …the Keydets were 11-0 this season when leading with five minutes in regulation and the Feb. 3 Wofford win was the first victory after trailing with 5:00 left in regulation…VMI was 13-6 when it scored more than 71 points and 0-6 when it scored 71 or fewer points…the Keydets were 9-0 when shooting 50% or better from the floor.

CBS SPORTS NETWORK TO TELEVISE FEBRUARY 12 GAME WITH THE CITADEL - CBS Sports Network will televise the February 12 VMI-The Citadel basketball game from Cameron Hall. Tipoff, which had been scheduled for 1 pm, will be moved to 3:30 pm for the national TV broadcast. The Southern Conference announced a five-game package with the cable TV network November 3. It will be the second time the VMI-Citadel basketball series has appeared on national television. The 2013 Military Classic opening round played at Cameron Hall between the schools was carried on ESPN2.

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