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Men's Basketball

Keydets Visit First-Place Chattanooga Saturday

LEADING OFF – VMI (15-12, 8-7 SoCon) wraps up its final multi-game road swing of the season this week when it travels to Chattanooga, Tennessee for a visit against Chattanooga Mocs Saturday afternoon at The McKenzie Arena. Tipoff will be 4 pm EST. The Keydets enter the weekend in a four-way tie for third place following Thursday night's heartbreaking OT loss at Samford, 100-99, despite career scoring nights by senior Jake Stephens (39 points) and Trey Bonham (31 points). VMI is currently tied with UNCG, Mercer, and Wofford for third place in the SoCon with red-hot Samford lurking a half game back at 7-7. Chattanooga sits atop the SoCon with a 12-3 conference mark and 22-6 overall record after being upset at home by UNCG Thursday night 73-70. VMI has three regular season games remaining -two on the road - and a victory in any one of those games remaining regular season contests would assure the Keydets of back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2012-13. Through games of February 16, VMI leads the nation in three-pointers made per game (12.5) total 3FGs made (340), and tops the SoCon in scoring (80.0 PPG), free throw percentage (.778-17th in nation), 3FG percentage (.386), field goal percentage defense (.404), and defensive rebounds (28.6). The 15 wins for VMI this season are the most since 2013-14 and surpass the win output for last year's team that posted 13 victories in a shortened 25-game slate.

LAST TIME OUT - In a game that featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes, the VMI basketball team fell by a heartbreaking 100-99 score in overtime to host Samford Thursday night at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford guard Ques Glover hit a fadeaway jumper from the baseline with just 1.2 seconds left in the overtime period to lift the Bulldogs over the Keydets. VMI had appeared to earn the win after going up 99-98 following two clutch Trey Bonham free throws with eight seconds left. Senior center Jake Stephens finished with a career-high 39 points, including 8-for-9 on three-point attempts, to go with 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season and 17th of his career. Sophomore guard Trey Bonham also finished with a career-high 31 points, topping his previous best of 21 points set earlier in the season. Glover finished the game with 26 points to lead Samford while teammate Jermaine Marshall poured in 22. Logan Dye (17) and Cooper Kaifes (14) also finished in double figures to aid the Bulldogs to victory. The Keydets scored 26 points in the paint to Samford's 30 and had 12 points off turnovers to Samford's seven, but the Bulldogs were effective in transition with 16 fast break points to VMI's five and had 16 points from the bench while the Keydets only had two on the night.

LAST MEETING WITH CHATTANOOGA – January 22, 2022 - Chattanooga hung on for a 78-74 victory over VMI at Cameron Hall. The Keydets rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to take a 74-73 lead on a Trey Bonham layup with 1:24 left. The Mocs' Malachi Smith, the leading scorer in the conference, answered with a jumper and after a steal on the other end, David Jean-Baptiste sunk two free throws with 16 seconds left to make it a 77-74 Chattanooga lead. VMI worked the ball around but junior Kamdyn Curfman's three-pointer in the closing seconds left rimmed out. Freshman Honor Huff scored a career-high 25 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor, his third-straight game setting a new top mark. Jake Stephens netted 20 with seven rebounds, four treys and two blocks and Curfman had 16, nailing four three-pointers. Bonham finished with 10 points. Smith scored a game-high 25 points for the Mocs with six steals and five rebounds. Jean-Baptist had 15 points and Darius Banks had 10 points and seven rebounds.

 A WIN OVER THE CHATTANOOGA WOULD ...   
--- Move VMI to 9-7 in conference play
--- Give VMI its sixth road win of the year
--- Assure VMI of back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2010-11 and 2011-12

VMI vs. Chattanooga
This will be the 63rd meeting between the teams that first met in 1978. Chattanooga leads the overall series, 47-15. VMI claimed an 84-79 decision at Cameron Hall in January 2, 2021 in the only meeting between the teams in 2020-21, and the Mocs topped the Keydets 78-74 in Lexington last month on January 20. 

STEPHENS ROLLS ALONG – Fresh off a career-high 39 pints including 7 three-pointers against Samford Thursday night, 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 19.8 PPG (2nd in SoCon) and has 15 20+ point games this year including 14 of the last 18 contests. He also paces the squad in rebounding (9.4-1st in SoCon), field goal percentage (.559-1st in SoCon), 3FG percentage (.489-1st in SoCon) and is 2nd in free throw percentage (78.9%-8th in SoCon). His 2.1 blocks per game rank second in the SoCon. Stephens has also been named Southern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week four times this season – most recently February 14 after a week where he after averaging 24.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game on the week. Last month, Stephens posted a then 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 then 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 ECLIPSES 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 second in the SoCon in 3FG per game (3.7) and his 101 makes from beyond the arc are most in the league. Curfman has scored in double figures in 26 of 27 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 and has hit a three in 28 consecutive games – the longest active streak in the SoCon.  
BONHAM SCORES CAREER-HIGH – Sophomore guard Trey Bonham scored a career-high 31 points against Samford Thursday night surpassing his previous best 21 points in the win over ETSU January 29. Bonham has tallied in double figures scoring in 14 of his last 15 games. He is third in the SoCon in assists per game (4.1), tied for fourth in SoCon A/TO ratio (2.0), and seventh in free throw percentage (.793). He grabbed a career-best nine rebounds against The Citadel Feb. 12.  

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 ten games, Huff is averaging 15.0 points and has scored in double figures eight times including three 20+ point games.  
 
MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of February 14, VMI is first in Division I in three-pointers per game averaging 12.5 per contest and have hit 10+ threes in 24 games this season. The SoCon has four of the top 11 teams in the nation in three-pointers made per game with Furman 3rd (12.0), The Citadel 5th (11.0) and Western Carolina 11th (10.3). 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

Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

G
6' 1"
Sophomore
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

C
6' 10"
Junior
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Honor Huff

#3 Honor Huff

G
5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

6' 1"
Sophomore
G
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

6' 10"
Junior
C
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Honor Huff

#3 Honor Huff

5' 10"
Freshman
G