watkins vs. gwu
Chuck Steenburgh/SportsPhotoGuy.com

Men's Basketball

Keydets Open Homestand against Western Carolina

LEXINGTON, Va. – VMI (13-10, 6-5 SoCon) returns home Friday night to open up a three-game home stand at Cameron Hall beginning with the Western Carolina Catamounts. Tipoff will be 6 pm. The Keydets, winners of their last two, are coming off their hottest shooting performance of the year in a 76-65 win over UNCG Wednesday night at Greensboro Coliseum. VMI fired away at a season best 66.7% clip from the floor and 63.2% from 3-point range to avenge an earlier loss to UNCG in January when ironically the Keydets suffered one of their worst shooting games of the year. The win was VMI's fifth road victory of the year and was the 70th career victory for head coach Dan Earl. VMI enters the weekend in sole position of fourth place in the SoCon standings with a 6-5 conference record, a half-game behind Mercer at 6-4. Western Carolina (3-7, 9-14) broke a five-game losing skid rallying to defeat ETSU 87-84 in Cullowhee, NC Wednesday night. The Keydets continue to top of the SoCon in scoring averaging 79.2 points a game and the Keydets excel in several other statistical categories and pace the circuit in free throw percentage (.784-10th in nation), field goal percentage defense (.396), defensive rebounds (28.9) and are second in the nation in 3-point field goals per game (12.4). The 13 wins for VMI this season equal the win output for last year's team that posted the mark in a shortened 25-game slate.
 
LAST TIME OUT - The VMI basketball team utilized a 16-3 run at the end of the game to defeat host UNCG by a 76-65 count Wednesday night at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans went cold over the final four minutes of the game and missed their final eight shot attempts, going scoreless in the last 4:10 of regulation. The Keydets took advantage and finished the final 2:53 on an 8-0 run and 16-3 run over the final four minutes by hitting six of eight from the field over that span. VMI shot 66.7 percent from the field – a season high – and also hit a season-high 63.2 percent from three-point range during the contest. VMI also overcame 16 turnovers, tying a season high. Sophomore Trey Bonham scored 17 points, including eight straight starting just under the six-minute mark to put VMI up for good. He has now scored in double figures in 10 of the last 11 contests. Junior guard Kamdyn Curfman went scoreless in the opening half but arrived in the second half to pour in a team-high 18 points to keep the Spartans at bay. Jake Stephens finished the game with 15 points – including three treys – while freshman Honor Huff also scored in double figures with 14. UNCG's Keyshaun Langley finished the contest with a game-high 19 points while twin brother Kobe Langley finished with 12.
 
LAST MEETING WITH WCU –-February 10, 2021 - VMI fell ,74-72, to host Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, North Carolina. VMI placed five in double figures for the second straight game as Jake Stephens and Kamdyn Curfman led the way with 17 points apiece. Greg Parham finished with 12 points while Trey Bonham and Sean Conway ended the contest with 11 and 10 points, respectively. VMI tied the game at 66-66 with 1:32 remaining after Parham converted a layup but Xavier responded with a jumper with 1:20 to put the Catamounts on top for good and Faulkner pushed in a jumper to make it 70-66 with 0:43 left. Curfman drilled his fifth 3-pointer with 0:39 on the clock to pull the Keydets within 70-69 but that would be as close as they would get.The Keydets shot 31.3 percent in the first 20 minutes but hit 58.1 percent from the floor in the second. VMI, however, was outscored 44-26 in points in the paint.
 
 A WIN OVER WCU WOULD ...
--- Move VMI to 7-5 in conference play
--- Make VMI 8-2 at home and be the 19th win over the last 22 at Cameron Hall 
--- Be VMI's sixth win over the Catamounts over the last eight matchups
 
VMI vs. Western Carolina
This will be the 65th meeting between the schools that began the series in 1978. Western Carolina leads the rivalry 36-28 but the Keydets have won five of the last seven games between the teams. Each school prevailed on its home floor in 2020-21 with VMI winning 87-61 in Lexington and Western Carolina edging VMI, 74-72 in Cullowhee. The series is deadlocked at 15-15 in games played in Lexington.
 
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 18.6 PPG (2nd best in SoCon) and has 11 20+ point games this year including 10 of the last 14 contests. He also paces the squad in rebounding (9.0-1st in SoCon), field goal percentage (.544-2nd in SoCon), and free throw percentage (82.3%-6th 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 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 tied for first in the SoCon in 3FG per game (3.8) and his 87 makes from beyond the arc top the league. Curfman has scored in double figures in all 23 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 24 consecutive games – the longest active streak in the SoCon. 
 
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 10 of his last 11 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 six games, Huff has has scored in double figures five times including three 20+ point games.  
 
MORE LONG-RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of February 2, VMI is second in the nation in three-pointers per game averaging 12.4 per contest and have hit 10+ threes in 20 games this season. The SoCon has four of the top nine teams in the nation in three-pointers made per game with Furman 1st (12.5), and The Citadel 6th (10.4) and Western Carolina 9th (10.5). 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.





 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

G
6' 5"
Sophomore
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

G
6' 1"
Sophomore
Greg Parham

#5 Greg Parham

G
6' 4"
Senior
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

Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

6' 5"
Sophomore
G
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

6' 1"
Sophomore
G
Greg Parham

#5 Greg Parham

6' 4"
Senior
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