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Men's Basketball

Keydets Start February at UNCG Wednesday

LEADING OFF – VMI (12-10, 5-5 SoCon) starts the final month of the regular season on the road at UNCG Wednesday night. Tipoff at the Greensboro Coliseum will be 7 pm. The Keydets will be looking to extend a winning streak to two games after outlasting ETSU at home Saturday, 83-79, to pull their conference record to the .500 mark. UNCG prevailed, 72-56, in the first meeting between the teams January 8 in Lexington and enters Wednesday's action 12-9, 4-5 following an 85-66 setback at Wofford Saturday night. The Keydets currently stand fourth in the SoCon standings while UNCG is positioned sixth. VMI's victory over ETSU Saturday brought a couple of milestones for head coach Dan Earl as he notched his 50th win at Cameron Hall and 30th SoCon victory. He also stands one victory shy of 70 career wins at the Institute. VMI continues to top of the SoCon in scoring averaging 79.3 points a game and the Keydets excel in several other statistical categories and pace the circuit in free throw percentage (.788-10th in nation), field goal percentage defense (.395), defensive rebounds (29.0) and 3-point field goals per game (12.5 – 1st in nation). 

LAST TIME OUT - Junior guard Trey Bonham netted a career-best 21 points to help VMI rally from a nine-point second-half deficit to defeat ETSU 83-79 in a Southern Conference game from Cameron Hall. The visiting Buccaneers led 58-49 with just over 13 minutes left before a 16-5 run over the next four minutes put the Keydets ahead 65-63. The teams traded the lead several times down the stretch and ETSU had a 79-78 advantage after a basket from Ty Brewer with 44 seconds left. Bonham answered with a driving layup eight seconds later and drew a foul. After Bonham sank the free throw to complete a traditional three-point play and put VMI ahead 81-79, Sean Conway came up big on the defensive end with a block and ETSU was forced to foul. Louis Tang sank two free throws with 11 seconds left to provide the final cushion. The victory snapped a 13-game losing skid to ETSU. Bonham tied a career-high with six rebounds and Jake Stephens notched his 13th career double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Honor Huff nailed four three pointers and finished with 21 points while Kamdyn Curfman had 12 points. Conway had eight points. Jordan King paced ETSU with 27 points, nailing 7-of-12 three pointers. Ledarrius Brewer had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

LAST MEETING WITH UNCG – January 8, 2022 - A strong defensive effort propelled UNCG to a 72-56 victory over the VMI from Cameron Hall.  The Spartans forced the Keydets into just 35 percent shooting overall (18-52), 28 percent from three-point range (10-36) and 15 turnovers. Junior guard Kamdyn Curfman posted the first double-double of his career with 16 points and a game-best 10 rebounds while senior center Jake Stephens scored a game-high 22 points for VMI. Sean Conway contributed eight points and nine rebounds and Brennan Watkins had six points. UNCG led 20-18 with 6:24 left in the first half and closed on a 16-7 run to enter intermission with a 36-25 advantage. The closest the Keydets could get in the second half was seven points. Kobe Langley paced UNCG with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kaleb Hunter had 15 points and De'Monte Buckingham compiled 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Bas Leyte added 11 points and five rebounds. The Spartans had 12 steals on the afternoon.

 A WIN OVER UNCG WOULD ...
--- Move VMI to 6-5 in conference play
--- Be VMI's fifth road win of the year.  
--- Snap a 13-game skid against the Bucs

VMI vs. UNCG
This will be the 31st meeting between the teams that first met in 1979. UNCG leads the series, 21-9, and has taken 10 of the last 11 meetings. VMI ended a nine-game skid against the Spartans by prevailing in the last year's meeting, 88-77, at Cameron Hall on February 17, 2021. UNCG took the first meeting this year, 72-56, at Cameron Hall. In games played in Greensboro, VMI is 1-12.

STEPHENS ROLLS ALONG – Senior center Jake Stephens is putting together one of the most remarkable campaigns in VMI basketball history. Stephens currently leads the team in scoring average with 18.8 PPG (2nd best in SoCon) and has 12 20+ point games this year including 9 of the last 10 contests. He also paces the squad in rebounding (9.1-1st in SoCon) and free throw percentage (81.9%-7th in SoCon). His 2.2 blocks per game rank second in the SoCon. Stephens has also been named Southern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week three times this season – most recently January 17 after a week where he posted a career-high 34 points at Mercer Jan. 13 and two days later pulled down a career-best 21 rebounds at The Citadel - the most by a SoCon player this season and was tied for seventh on the NCAA Division I game-high list this season.  Stephens rang in the New Year with a shower of accolades after being named the Lou Henson College Insider National Player of the Week and both SoCon GEICO Player of the Week and December Player of the month. In December, Stephens averaged 21.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game and shot 57.6 percent from the floor in helping VMI to a 4-1 record during the month. Stephens scored 28 points against Gardner-Webb December 11 to become the 43rd player in VMI history to reach that mark. 

CURFMAN ESCLIPSES 1,000 POINTS –Junior guard Kamdyn Curfman became the 44th player in VMI history to score 1,000 points in his VMI basketball career after a 16-point effort at Furman January 26. He is first in the SoCon in 3FG per game (3.8) and his 83 makes from beyond the arc top the league. Curfman has scored in double figures in all 22 games this season with six 20+ games including a career-high 27 points at Marist November 20. Curfman matched his career-high in 3-pointers in a game when he nailed six 3's vs. Samford January 20 after doing so at Wake Forest December and Central Arkansas November 25. Curfman and has hit 5+ 3FG in eight games this season.  

BONHAM SCORES CAREER-HIGH – Sophomore guard Trey Bonham scored a career-high 21 points in the win over ETSU Saturday eclipsing his 21 points vs. Wofford last year. Bonham has tallied in double figures scoring in 9 of his last 10 games. He is tied for third in SoCon A/TO ratio at 1.9. 

HUFF WITH THREE STRAIGHT CAREER HIGHS – Freshman guard Honor Huff set career scoring highs in three consecutive January games. The Brooklyn, NY native had 15 points at The Citadel Jan. 15, 21 points vs. Samford Jan. 20, and 23 points against Chattanooga January 22. Over his last four games, Huff has produced three 20+ point games.   

MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of January 30, VMI leads the nation in three-pointers per game averaging 12.5 per contest and have hit 10+ threes in 19 games this season. The SoCon has three of the top five teams in the nation in three-pointers made per game with Furman 3rd (12.3), and The Citadel T-8th (10.4). 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. 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 converted on 359 threes that season - the 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
Louis Tang

#0 Louis Tang

G
6' 4"
Sophomore
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Brennan Watkins

#1 Brennan Watkins

G
5' 11"
Freshman
Honor Huff

#3 Honor Huff

G
5' 10"
Freshman

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
Louis Tang

#0 Louis Tang

6' 4"
Sophomore
G
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Brennan Watkins

#1 Brennan Watkins

5' 11"
Freshman
G
Honor Huff

#3 Honor Huff

5' 10"
Freshman
G