2011-12 VMI BASKETBALL KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES Keydets Hit the Road to Face UNC Asheville, Winthrop VMI Looking for First Conference Road Wins VMI basketball returns to action Thursday night, taking on the UNC Asheville Bulldogs in a Big South battle in Asheville, N.C. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Following that contest, VMI takes on Winthrop in Rock Hill, S.C., VMI (7-7, 2-2) Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. vs. UNC Asheville (8-6, 3-0) Thursday, January 5 - 7 p.m. ET The Keydets enter on a two-game winning streak, having eaked out conference wins over Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb in dramatic fashion this past week. First, VMI earned a 78-70 overtime win over PC on New Year’s Kimmel Arena Eve, sparked by Stan Okoye’s 27 points. It was the Keydets’ first OT win since 2009, and was followed two days Asheville, N.C. later by a 76-72 win over Gardner-Webb. Okoye had 25 points, while Ron Burks equaled his season-high with RADIO- 96.7 3WZ Lexington 19, including a clutch lay-up with 40 seconds to go that proved to be the game’s biggest shot. INTERNET- Live Audio and Stats online at www.wrel.com and Last Meeting with UNC Asheville (1/29/2011) www.VMIKeydets.com. A season-high crowd of 3,157 fans was on hand at Cameron Hall, but UNC Asheville continued to dominate in TV/Video- Available via the Big South Lexington and walked away with a 100-87 victory over the VMI Keydets Saturday afternoon, Jan. 29. With the Network at www.bigsouthsports.com win, UNC Asheville won its fourth straight game at Cameron Hall. The Keydets turned the ball over 15 times in the game, and shot only 8-of-18 (44 percent) from the free-throw line in the defeat. Last Meeting with Winthrop (3/1/2011) Stan Okoye had 23 points and nine rebounds, including a critical three-pointer with 48 seconds left, and the #4 seed VMI Keydets survived a late rally to defeat the #5 seed Winthrop Eagles, 78-73, in the quarterfinals of VMI the 2011 Advance Auto Parts Big South Men's Basketball Championship, Tuesday, March 1. vs. Winthrop After VMI started just 1 for 10 from the floor, a 19-8 run pulled the home team back even, as four different Saturday, January 7 - 4 p.m. ET players scored during the spurt. The Keydets then took a 28-27 lead on an Austin Kenon layup with 3:56 left in the Winthrop Coliseum first half, and never trailed again en route to the victory. Rock Hill, S.C. A Win over UNC Asheville Would: RADIO- 96.7 3WZ Lexington Give the Keydets a three-game conference winning streak, a feat they accomplished twice last season, and also INTERNET- Live Audio and Stats online at give VMI its fifth win its last six trips to UNC Asheville. www.wrel.com and www.VMIKeydets.com. A Win over Winthrop Would: TV/Video- Available via the Big South Mark VMI’s third win in its last four trips to Rock Hill and give the Keydets a three-game win streak over WU. Network at www.bigsouthsports.com Probable Starters *=Blocks Per Game Pos. # Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pts. Reb. Ast. Stl. Notes G 1 Rodney Glasgow So. 5-10 170 7.4 2.0 3.7 1.1 Nine points, four rebounds vs. Presbyterian (12/31) F 11 Stan Okoye Jr. 6-5 205 17.0 5.9 2.4 1.9 27 points vs. PC (12/31), 25 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists vs. GWU (1/2) F 15 Ron Burks Sr. 6-4 215 10.1 4.3 3.3 0.6 19 points, eight rebounds vs. Gardner-Webb (1/2) C 24 D.J. Covington So. 6-9 235 3.0 1.5 0.3* 0.1 Season-high 30 minutes vs. GWU (1/2), 10 points, six rebounds F 30 Nick Gore Jr. 6-6 220 6.6 3.1 1.6 0.6 Career-high six assists at ODU (12/22) Off The Bench Pos. # Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pts. Reb. Ast. Stl. Notes F 2 Quinton Upshur Fr. 6-5 210 6.0 2.2 0.7 1.8 Missed GWU game due to cut on his left hand G 3 Brian Brown Fr. 5-11 185 1.5 0.8 0.3 0.1 Six points versus Milligan College (12/10), three rebounds versus CPC (12/8) G 4 Christian Burton Fr. 5-10 170 1.2 0.4 - 0.4 Five points in win over Milligan College (12/10) G 5 Drew Absher So. 5-10 170 0.4 0.6 0.2 - Grabbed two rebounds at Ohio State (11/23) G 21 Keith Gabriel Sr. 6-4 185 16.4 3.1 2.0 2.0 Equaled career-high with 34 points against ODU (12/22), 21 points at #3 OSU G 31 Michael Sparks Sr. 6-4 195 7.7 2.4 0.2 0.6 Team-leading 19 points versus Milligan (12/10) C 32 Wayne Whiting Sr. 6-7 240 2.3 1.0 0.3 0.3* Four points, three rebounds in 20 minutes at Coastal (12/1) C 34 Jarid Watson Fr. 6-7 210 1.8 2.5 0.4 0.7* Four points, six rebounds versus Milligan College (12/10) F 40 Jordan Weethee Fr. 6-6 220 8.4 3.1 0.7 0.4 Career-high 19 points at Longwood (12/12), leading team in 3’s per game G 14 Joe Carr Jr. 6-3 195 - - - - Out for season due to injury Media Schedule/Results (7-77, 2-22 Big South) Information Date Opponent (Television) Time/Result Record Key Stats Nov. 11 vs. The Citadel (CBSSN) W, 103-100 1-0 Keydets put six players in double figures, led by Okoye’s 19 X VMI Basketball Contacts Nov. 12 at Air Force L, 65-75 1-1 AFA shoots 62.5% in first half en route to All-Military Classic title Wade Branner, Associate A.D./Athletic Nov. 15 Alice Lloyd W, 101-74 2-1 Keydets force 18 second half turnovers en route to win Communications (Basketball Contact) Nov. 19 UMBC W, 84-79 3-1 Okoye scores 16 in second half, 24 overall to lead VMI Office (540) 464-7515 Nov. 23 at #3 Ohio State L, 74-107 3-2 OSU shoots 67.6% en route to victory Cell (540) 319-1271 Dec. 1 at Coastal Carolina* L, 78-87 3-3 Okoye scores 21 in second half, but Coastal holds on Dec. 3 at Charleston Southern* L, 81-114 3-4 CSU blows open six-point game with second-half run Fax (540) 464-7583 Dec. 6 at #14 Pittsburgh L, 70-97 3-5 Weethee paces Keydets with 18 points Email [email protected] Dec. 8 Central Pennsylvania W, 109-86 4-5 22-5 second half run breaks game open Web www.VMIKeydets.com Dec. 10 Milligan W, 122-73 5-5 VMI shoots 64% and has 61 bench points in rout Press Row Phone (540) 463-6725 Dec. 12 at Longwood L, 89-110 5-6 Longwood hits 20 3’s, Weethee career-high 19 in loss Dec. 22 at Old Dominion L, 73-81 5-7 ODU pulls away late despite Gabriel’s 34 Brad Salois, Associate Athletic Dec. 31 Presbyterian College* W, 78-70 (OT) 6-7 Okoye 27 points, first OT win since 2009 Communications Director (Secondary) Jan. 2 Gardner-Webb* W, 76-72 7-7 Okoye and Burks combine for 44 of VMI’s 76 points Office (540) 464-7015 Jan. 5 at UNC Asheville* 7 p.m. Cell (940) 642-9865 Jan. 7 at Winthrop* 4 p.m. Email [email protected] Jan. 10 Liberty* (Flames Sports) 7 p.m. Jan. 14 Radford* (MASN) 8 p.m. Jan. 19 High Point* 7 p.m. John Stark, Assistant Athletic Jan. 21 at Campbell* 3:30 p.m. Communications Director Jan. 26 at Radford* 7 p.m. Office (540) 464-7514 Feb. 2 UNC Asheville* 7 p.m. Cell (570) 809-1946 Feb. 4 Winthrop 1 p.m. Email [email protected] Feb. 9 at Presbyterian College* 7 p.m. Feb. 11 at Gardner-Webb* 7 p.m. X VMIKeydets.com Feb. 14 at Liberty* (ESPN3.com) 7 p.m. The official website of VMI athletics, Feb. 18 ESPN BracketBuster TBA VMIKeydets.com, includes pregame Feb. 23 Charleston Southern* 7 p.m. notes, game and season statistics, Feb. 25 Coastal Carolina 1 p.m. postgame notes and quotes and rele- Feb. 27 - March 3 - Big South Championship - Site TBA vant news releases to the VMI Basketball program. The website is updated daily. Gabriel Closing in on Top-10 Scoring List: man to sit out the contest. Upshur had started the previ- After scoring 21 points on VMI’s most recent homes- ous two games, and his status for the UNC X Big South Network tand, senior guard Keith Gabriel has pulled to within 10 Asheville/Winthrop road trip is questionable. Fans can view live video of all the points of 10th place on the Institute’s all-time scoring list. Keydets’ home games and all Big South With 10 markers, he will tie Radee Skipworth ‘04 with Keydets Knock Off Gardner-Webb, 76-72: Conference contests, including tourna- 1,588 career points. Stan Okoye had 25 points and seven rebounds, ment action, online via The Big South and Ron Burks capped a 19-point night with a driving Network at www.BigSouthSports.com.