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Men's Basketball

Keydets Face Wake Forest Tuesday in Winston-Salem

LEXINGTON, Va. – VMI will put a four-game winning streak to the test against a formidable opponent when it faces Wake Forest of the ACC Tuesday night in Winston-Salem, N.C. Tipoff at LJVM Coliseum will be 7 pm. The Keydets enter the game off a 64-61 victory over Gardner-Webb Saturday that saw VMI extend its home record this season to 4-0 despite shooting a season-low 26.7% shooting from 3-point range. The Gardner-Webb win was VMI's first victory this season decided by 5 points or less and also when trailing with five minutes in regulation. The Keydets had not had a four-win streak since 2018-19 when they knocked off Western Carolina twice, Mercer, and The Citadel near the end of the season. Senior 6-11 center Jake Stephens led VMI over Gardner-Webb with a banner day – a season-best 28 points, career-high tying 16 rebounds, and career-tying six blocks. Stephens Saturday also became the 43rd player in VMI history to score 1,000 points in a career and was later named Southern Conference Player of the Week on Monday. Wake Forest, led by former ETSU head coach Steve Forbes, is off to a 9-1 start this season after defeating USC Upstate, 79-53. The Demon Deacons are VMI's lone contest against a Power 5 foe on the 2021-22 schedule. 
 
LAST TIME OUT – Senior center Jake Stephens scored a season-high 28 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and added six blocked shots Saturday as the VMI men's basketball team won an exciting 64-61 non-conference game against visiting Gardner-Webb University. Stephens also became the 43rd player to join the Keydet 1,000-point club and he now sits at 1,008. Cameron Hall, the home of VMI basketball the past four decades, hosted a special ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first game during halftime of Saturday's game. The Keydets trailed 59-58 with 42 seconds left before Stephens scored a layup to give VMI the lead. D'Maurian Williams sunk two free throws on the other end, but Stephens again countered with a score in the paint to put VMI ahead 62-61 with 11 seconds remaining. Following a Keydet defensive stop, Sean Conway cleared the defensive glass and was fouled with two seconds left. He buried both free throws and a desperation GWU three-pointer didn't connect. Stephens tied career highs with his 16 rebounds and six blocks on the afternoon. Kamdyn Curfman had 13 points. Lance Terry scored a team-best 16 points for the Runnin' Bulldogs (4-6) with seven boards. D'Maurian Williams had 15 points and five rebounds and Ludovic Dufeal corralled a team-high 15 rebounds in 18 minutes of play. The VMI defense forced Gardner-Webb into 0-9 shooting from three-point range in the second half and just 26 percent (9-35) from the floor in that span. The Keydets led 36-34 at intermission and led by eight (48-40) with 12:48 on the game clock. GWU had its biggest second-half lead of 58-52 with 3:38 remaining.   
 
LAST MEETING WITH WAKE FOREST – November 12, 2013 - The Wake Forest Demon Deacons broke open a tied game with a 16-3 run to end the first half and went on to a 98-71 win over the VMI Keydets, in NCAA basketball action in Winston-Salem, N.C. After VMI's QJ Peterson tied the game with a three-pointer, 24-24, with 6:15 left in the first half, the score was also tied at 26-all and 28-all, the latter after a Rodney Glasgow hoop at the 4:44 mark. From there, however, Wake Forest (2-0) closed the half on a 16-3 run, including scoring the final 10 points of the period, to go into the break up 13. The Keydets got back within 11 twice early in the second half, but a 14-5 run gave WF a 20-point lead for the first time and VMI got no closer than 18 the rest of the way. Codi Miller-McIntyre of Wake Forest led all scorers with 23 points, while Peterson had 16 points to pace the Keydets. Glasgow added 15, while D.J. Covington had 13 markers and four blocks.
 
A WIN OVER WAKE FOREST WOULD ... 
--- Be VMI's first win over an ACC opponent since 2004-05
--- Give VMI its fifth straight win – longest win streak since 2012-13 season (Jan. 2-16)
--- Be the Keydets third straight road victory
 
VMI vs. Wake Forest
This will be the 24th meeting between the schools and the first since the 2013-14 season. Wake Forest leads 19-4 and has taken 15 straight in the series. The VMI win over Wake Forest came in the 1940-41 season (44-43) when both schools were members of the Southern Conference. Wake took the most recent meeting in the series, 98-71, in Winston-Salem on November 12, 2013.
 
STEPHENS NAMED SOCON POTW, JOINS 1,000 POINT CLUB –With a season-high 28 points Saturday against Gardner-Webb, senior center Jake Stephens became the 43rd player in VMI history to reach that mark. Stephens also equaled his career bests in rebounds (16) and blocked shots (6) against the Bulldogs and was named GEICO Southern Conference Player of the Week Monday. Stephens has posted back-to-back double-double figure games and is currently second on the team in scoring average with a 16.3 mark and leads the squad in rebounding (8.0) and free throw percentage (83.7%). 

CAMERON HALL CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY WITH WIN – Saturday's 64-61 win over Gardner-Webb helped celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first game played in the facility on December 5, 1981. Several players and coaches from the past four decades returned to post Saturday to participate in a special halftime ceremony that ended with VMI Superintendent Major General Cedric T. Wins '85, who scored the first point in Cameron Hall history, hitting a shot to bring Saturday's ceremony to a close. VMI now has a 303-238 overall record at its home court and has won 15 of the last 16 games played there over the last two seasons.

CURFMAN SETS CAREER HIGH –After matching his career-high of five 3-pointers in a game 12 times, VMI junior guard Kamydn Curfman set new career-best with six 3-pointers in VMI's 73-67 win over Central Arkansas November 25. Curfman currently leads the Keydets in scoring with 17.9 points per game and has scored in double figures in all 11 games with three 20+ games including a career-high 27 points at Marist November 20. 

MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – VMI currently ranks second in the nation in three-pointers per game averaging 12.6 per contest and have hit 10+ threes in nine games this season. 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.




 
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Players Mentioned

Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

G
6' 5"
Sophomore
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

G
6' 1"
Sophomore
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

C
6' 10"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

6' 5"
Sophomore
G
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

6' 1"
Sophomore
G
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

6' 10"
Junior
C