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Men's Basketball

VMI Basketball prepares to host Mercer and The Citadel

Saturday’s game with the Bulldogs features the 50-Year Reunion of the 1976 and 1977 teams that made deep runs at the NCAA Tournament

LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI Basketball team prepares to host big Southern Conference matchups at home this week when the Mercer Bears and The Citadel Bulldogs visit Lexington for league contests.
 
VMI will face Mercer Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Cameron Hall before The Citadel Bulldogs visit Cameron Hall for a rare Saturday night game at 7 p.m.
 
The Keydets usually play Saturday games in the early afternoon but a shift was necessary to accommodate the Corps of Cadets marching at the governor's inauguration in Richmond in the morning.
 
Not only does VMI host its rival The Citadel, but Saturday's game is also huge in that VMI is holding a 50-Year Reunion to commemorate the 1975-76 and 1976-77 basketball teams that made deep runs at the NCAA Tournament, one of the greatest accomplishments in VMI Athletics' long and storied history.
 
Many members of those squads will be on hand to be recognized during halftime of the game Saturday night in a special ceremony.
 
Broadcast Information
VMI vs. Mercer – Thursday, Jan. 15 – 6 pm                   Watch on ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
VMI vs. The Citadel – Saturday, Jan. 17 – 7 pm             Watch on ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
 
 
About the Bears (10-7, 2-2)
Mercer opened conference play 0-2 with losses to league leaders Furman and ETSU but have won two in a row with recent victories over The Citadel and Wofford.
 
Baraka Okojie was just named the SoCon Player of the Week Monday after he led Mercer to back-to-back 100-point offensive outings, including 109 points versus Wofford marking the Bears' most points scored against a SoCon opponent in program history. The Memphis and George Mason transfer logged 29 points in the Bears' win Saturday over Wofford. He is ranked right behind VMI's TJ Johnson at third place in the league standings at 18.2 points per game.
 
Armani Mighty (12.9) and Zaire Williams (11.8) also average double digits in scoring.
 
About the Bulldogs (4-13, 1-3)
Always a battle no matter the strength of either team, the Keydets and Bulldogs will meet for the 126th time in the all-time series with VMI owning 63 wins over The Citadel's 62 wins in the storied rivalry.
 
The Citadel owns non-conference wins over Erskine, North Greenville and Southern Wesleyan and will enter this weekend with confidence after achieving a 79-77 overtime win at home against Western Carolina this past Saturday for their first league win of the year.
 
Braxton Williams leads the team averaging 12.1 points per game while Christian Moore is close behind with 10.8 ppg.  Sola Adebisi leads the team averaging 5.7 rebounds per game.
 
Carter Kingsbury went off against Western Carolina with 22 points to help the Bulldogs to their big league win over Western while Williams finished with 21.
 
 



 
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Players Mentioned

TJ Johnson

#44 TJ Johnson

F
6' 7"
Junior

Players Mentioned

TJ Johnson

#44 TJ Johnson

6' 7"
Junior
F