team win celebrate vs. unce - socon tourney
Nathanial Barbee, VMI Athletic Communications
64
Winner VMI VMI 15-18,7-11 SoCon
57
UNC Greensboro UNCG 20-12,13-5 SoCon
Winner
VMI VMI
15-18,7-11 SoCon
64
Final
57
UNC Greensboro UNCG
20-12,13-5 SoCon
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
VMI VMI 28 36 64
UNC Greensboro UNCG 19 38 57

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Keydets upset No. 2 UNCG to advance to SoCon Tournament semifinals

No. 7 seed VMI moves on to semis for the first time since 2020-21 season

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The No. 7 seed VMI basketball team played gritty basketball to earn a hard-fought 64-57 victory over No. 2 seed UNCG Saturday afternoon in the SoCon Tournament quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals Sunday.
                                                                
The Keydets (15-18) have qualified for the semifinals for the first time since the 2020-21 season when they defeated Furman in overtime in the quarterfinals before falling to Mercer in the semifinals that season.
 
Saturday's win marked the first time since the 2002-03 season that VMI has won two SoCon Tournament games to advance to the semifinals, although the most recent occurrence came from the 2011-12 team which earned two tournament wins as a member of the Big South.
 
VMI will now face No. 6 Wofford, which defeated No. 3 ETSU Saturday night following VMI's game with UNCG. Tip-off with the Terriers will be Sunday at 6:30 p.m. televised on ESPNU.
 
 
Big Win
Saturday's win over the Spartans is a new milestone for third-year Head Coach Andrew Wilson as the Keydets snapped a six-game losing skid to the Spartans for win No. 15 on the season, an 11-win improvement from a year ago to mark the biggest turnaround in VMI Basketball history. VMI last saw a 10-win improvement from 2007-08 (14 wins) to 2008-09 (24 wins).
 
As VMI and UNCG had never before met in the SoCon Tournament, Saturday's win was VMI's first ever for the Keydets over UNCG in Asheville and moves VMI to 11-27 in the all-time series history with the Spartans.
 
VMI Head Coach Andrew Wilson
"We fought through a lot of adversity tonight, as we have all season. To hold this UNC Greensboro team to 57 points – what a defensive effort from our guys. We knew this was going to be a rock fight. That's the way they play. Mike does an incredible job and has a great culture. They're the best defensive team in our league, and they have been for years, and we have an incredible amount of respect for their program. This is a great moment for our guys. I told them in the locker room, there's not a group of kids in college basketball who deserve this moment as much as our guys, and I'm so proud of them.

"A lot of people didn't think that we could field a competitive basketball program in this league. This has been the 12th-rated league out of 32 Division I leagues over the last five years. This is an incredibly difficult league to navigate, and people doubted that we could build a program here. I've been telling my guys for the last couple months, I don't know what our destination is, but there's something out there for us. And luckily, I think they've believed in my message. They bought into it, and I still believe there's something else out there for us to go get."
 
Game Summary
Both teams started out slow and could not buy a basket for the first few minutes before the Keydets started to get their feet under them and built a gradual 20-10 lead midway through the opening half.  The Keydets held firm and picked up their biggest lead of the game at 11 points at 26-15 with 3:56 in the half and again at 28-17 with 1:36 to go. VMI went into the locker room with a 28-19 lead at halftime to have momentum going into the second half.  Sophomore Augustinas Kiudulas paced VMI with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
UNCG made a run to open the second half and eventually cut the deficit to 33-32 at the 16:03 mark, but the Keydets stayed resilient and brought the lead back up to seven, 45-38, at the 12:34 mark after a Tan Yildizoglu layup. VMI did not let up and maintained an eight-point lead at 50-42 with six minutes left in regulation.
 
The Spartans continued to chip away at the deficit and cut the VMI lead to just one at 56-55 with 1:52 to play after a pair of Ron Polite III free throws. Rickey Bradley, Jr. then hit a big shot just inside the arc at the top of the key to put VMI back up by five and then hit four clutch free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the win for the Keydets.
 
 
Key Stats
 * The Keydets made 23-of-55 shots (41.8 percent). UNCG made just 19-of-52 for 36.5 percent.
* VMI took good care of the ball and had just seven turnovers in the game
* Bradley earned his first career double-double by registering 23 points to go with a game-high 11 boards. He went 8-10 from the charity stripe
* Kiudulas finished with 19 points to go with seven rebounds and Yildizoglu also finished in double figures with 11. Kiudulas went 7-8 from the free-throw line to aid in the victory
* UNCG shot 14 percent (2-14) from beyond the arc

2025 Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship
Friday, March 7 (ESPN+/Nexstar)
Game 1 - (8) Mercer 67, (9) Western Carolina 66
Game 2 - (7) VMI 73, (10) The Citadel 62
 
Saturday, March 8 (ESPN+)
Game 3 - (1) Chattanooga 76, (8) Mercer 61
Game 4 - (7) VMI 64, (2) UNCG 57
Game 5 - (6) Wofford 72, (3) ETSU 60
Game 6 - (5) Furman 95, (4) Samford 78
 
Sunday, March 9 (ESPNU)
Game 7 - (1) Chattanooga vs. (5) Furman, 4 p.m.
Game 8 - (7) VMI vs. (6) Wofford, 6:30 p.m.
 
Monday, March 10 (ESPN or ESPN2)
Championship game, 7 p.m.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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